We Few
by speaker4thesilent
Summary: AU novelization of Gundam Seed. What if there had been another Coordinator in Kira's group? What if there had been seven Gundams? How would the story have changed? Rating for my OC's potty mouth.
1. The Island in the Sky

I'm really pissed right now. I had like 23 pages for this chapter written when my #$ # #& computer crashed and destroyed it along with almost a dozen fornicating megabytes of original material I was compiling for publication. None of it is recoverable. As I said, pissed. Anywho, that's why there have been no updates for about a bit. Since all the stuff I had in process on my other stories was destroyed as well, consider them suspended indefinitely. This will be the only fic I'm working on for a bit. Once this is done, I may pick up the others again.

Anyway, on with the fic. Pairings are tentative but for right now they are Murrue/Mu, Kira/Miriallia, OC/Lacus, Athrun/Cagalli.

Flames are welcome. I could use something else to yell about right now.

I do not own Gundam Seed. Do not sue me as I have nothing worth taking. I'll put the pretty toys back when I'm done playing with them. I own only my own ideas, and, so far as I know no one has done a Kira/Mir before so don't accuse me of stealing the pairing from you/a friend/your dog.

Chapter I

An Island in the Sky

_Take up the White Man's burden-_

_Send forth the best you breed-_

_Go, bind your sons to exile_

_To serve your captive's need;_

_To wait in heavy harness,_

_On fluttered folk and wild-_

_Your new-caught, sullen peoples,_

_Half-devil and half-child._

**Rudyard Kipling**

**The White Man's Burden**

Orb Natural Resource Satellite Heliopolis: January 25th Cosmic Era 71

David was bored. Really, really bored. His morning classes at the university had been canceled and he had absolutely nothing to do. As a result, the cobalt-eyed, straw-haired nineteen year old was walking through the park reciting the names of all the plants there from memory in Latin, German, French, Spanish, and Japanese. Not really entertaining, but it kept the brain from atrophying. However, that's about all that it did; his brain still has plenty of room left for musing. _Ya' know self, _he begins the cycle yet again, at least the thirtieth such cycle in the last two hours, _most people would be glad for a day off. Why can't you relax? Surely enough time's passed that you don't have to be so . . . attentive all the time. _Amused by the Schizophrenia of the thought, David smiles to himself before stumbling over the Latin name for the Weeping Willow. _It's not easy being one of only a handful of Coordinators on the colony, _he continues his musing once the mistake is righted. _Especially when the only other one that I know of is actually smarter than me. _He continued to reflect on his own personal version of what passed for luck. In the PLANTs he had been only a little smarter, a little faster, and a little stronger than his classmates. Here, he had to force himself to slow down at everything he did and conceal his true abilities, even from his friends. He'd only ever told Kira what he was, and then only because he was sure that Kira was a Coordinator too, and more importantly, _knew_ that he was. David looks up and blinks, _And in the true spirit of 'speak of the devil' there he sits! _Noticing that Kira hasn't seen him yet, David carefully sneaks up behind his best friend and strikes. "Kira!" he says, nearly as loudly as humanly possible, while smacking the aforementioned on the shoulder. "How ya doin'?"

Kira jumps almost a foot into the air while trying to twist sideways. The end result is one Kira twisted into a pretzel amongst the various posts and boards of the table and chairs, and one David holding his sides in laughter. "God Kira (a laugh) if I'd realized you'd end up like (a giggle) that (smothered laugh) I wouldn't have done that (giggle again)," David apologizes while trying to get a hold of himself. Kira, on the other hand, went from looking ready to do some serious violence to amused at his situation by the end of his friend's sentence.

"You have no idea how much I needed that, Dave," Kira says once his friend catches his breath. David gives him a look that says "What could possibly be bad enough that imitating a particularly twisted pretzel seems good by comparison?" so Kira continues, "Dr. Kato gave me this huge program to write, and it's driving me up the walls. I've run through it I-don't-know how many times, and it will not work."

"Really? Let me look at it," David half states half asks. David turns Kira's laptop around and begins to look over the code. "Well, I can see your first problem right now. Judging by the state of this, and how tired you look, I'd say you were up to at least three or four in the morning working on it. How many times do I have to tell you that the part of your brain that knows how to connect the dots on a program this large turns off at midnight without a constant supply of caffeine?" He then delves deeper, and several thoughts register in rapid succession. First is, _Good God what a rat's nest! _Second is, _Hey, this looks really familiar, _Next, _Oh wow, this is remarkably similar to what they tried on the GINN prototypes, _the last is, _So, are they for the Earth Forces, or for Orb's defense? _All of this flashes through his mind within a matter of seconds, and he controls his expression as best he can, hoping that anything that leaks through will be interpreted as disbelief or concentration on the program before him. Though he knows that the operating system before him could be for anything from a cargo loader to a mineral extraction shuttle, his instincts are telling him otherwise, and he knows to trust his instincts on something like this. _I suppose the only question is whether or not I help them. _In the end, the choice really isn't very difficult.

"Alright, Kira! I've found your problem," David says while Kira looks on expectantly. "There isn't one," David waits for the obvious challenge to his pronouncement.

"But if there isn't a problem, why do all the simulations I run fail?" Kira asks, not challengingly, but with genuine curiosity.

"Alright," David says, slipping into teacher mode, "if you have elements X, Y, and Z, and X,Y, and Z connect, which, by the way is really impressive for a midnight plus project, then why isn't it working?"

Kira gets it almost immediately, "I'm going about it the wrong way!"

"Correct. See, look here. Any command input has to go through this block here, dozens of lines of spaghetti logic, before it comes out the far side, but then it's got to go through this one," he says, tapping the screen, "and this one too. All of that is eating time and processing power by the gigabyte. So we need to get rid of these logjams; however, all three of them are all integral parts of the program. So lets try simplifying them into smaller chunks without all of the feedback loops."

They'd been working for almost an hour when two of their other friends from the college came up to them. "Good Lord, guys!" brown-haired Tolle says as he and his girlfriend Miriallia walk up. "It took us forever to find you! Professor Kato wants to see you."

Kira gets a deer-in-the-headlights look on his face. "But I haven't finished it yet! Even with Dave helping me, we're only halfway done!" he cries mournfully.

"Still, we'd better go," says Tolle. As they begin gathering up their stuff, a news bulletin comes over the vid screens in the park, and they all stop to take in the story.

"Kaohsiung? Isn't that pretty close to Orb?" Mir asks.

"Yeah, but they'll be fine; we are neutral after all," Tolle says confidently.

_Yeah, but ZAFT would blow the hell out of this colony without a second thought if they're building what I think they're building. Even if they were only for Orb's own defense, they can't afford to risk it. _This thought and others like it carry David with his friends to the modern equivalent of a bus stop. David realizes that there are others present, but doesn't really register who it is until he hears the name "Flay." He scowls in disgust, but his mental recitation of "101 Reasons Why I Hate Flay" is interrupted by a voice from behind him.

"Excuse me, but if you're not getting in, do you mind if I do?" a dark-haired woman asks in a subtly condescending tone.

"No problem," David says as he steps aside and allows her and her two companions to pass. After they depart, David focuses back in on the current subject, something about some letter that someone supposedly sent to someone. Since he'd missed the first half of the conversation, he decides to just jump into the front of one of the cars. "Well guys, are we leaving sometime today, or are we gonna stand around yapping till we grow roots?"

XXXXX

As they pull up to the checkpoint at the gate of the Morgenroete facility, David is seriously considering throwing Tolle out the back of the car.

"Well, if you're not going to ask about it, I will!" Tolle says, trying to browbeat Kira into acceptance.

"Then go ahead!" Kira says as he scans his ID card through the terminal, "I don't see anybody stopping you."

After several more minutes and more pleading by Tolle, they finally arrive at "their" workroom. "Ah! There you are Kira," Another of their classmates, Sai, says as they walk in the door. Then he does a double take at David. "Dave! I didn't know you worked at Morgenroete."

"Technically, I don't," Dave says, "but I've got family with connections fairly high up in the facility back on Earth, so I've pretty much got a get-in-free card whenever I want to wander around. Besides," he continues, "I've been helping Kira with his project,"

Sai nods and David and Kira get to work on the OS yet again before Dave feels someone's eyes on him. He looks up and sees a girl standing up against the wall on the far side of the room. Dave calls Sai over and asks him who it is.

Sai responds, "I don't know, she's some guest of Dr. Kato's," David just shrugs, putting her familiar features out of his mind for the moment.

They've actually gotten another half-hour of work in on the OS before every alarm in the colony sounds simultaneously; the result is a cacophony of noise that ought to be easily capable of waking the dead.

"Everybody out!" David yells directing everyone towards the doors and to a stairway down to ground level.

When they get to the stairway, Sai asks one of the workers, "What's going on?"

"It's a ZAFT attack!" one of the workers yells back over his shoulder as he runs.

The girl from the workroom suddenly takes off running in the other direction. Kira sees her and follows while David yells, "Kira get back here!" and follows, Miriallia right behind him. The girl manages to round one corner before Kira's enhanced muscles allow him to catch her.

"Get off of me!" she yells as Kira prepares to drag her away to a shelter, by force if necessary when an explosion blows them all off of their feet.

David rolls to his feet and looks backwards before loosing a torrent of invective in at least three separate languages. "Well, we won't be going back that way!" he yells to the others. Kira nods and looks at his erstwhile prisoner and does a truly classic double take.

"You're a girl?" He asks dumbly.

"Yeah! What'd ya' think I was?" She retorts hotly. Kira, wisely, declines to answer.

"Come on, this way!" David yells and takes off down a side corridor.

When Miriallia sees where they're going, she yells, "This is a dead end! It's a restricted area!"

David just smiles, "I told ya'! I've got a free pass!" he yells back to her. He stops and hits several numbers on the keypad and snarls when he doesn't get the response he wants. "Fine, be that way! Voice key override: four, two, niner, five, alpha, golf, charlie. Pass code is 'The Will to Power!' Now open the hell up!" The door obliges.

They step through into a minor war zone. All of them take a moment to look over the side, and what they see on the factory floor surprises all of them but David, and apparently the girl, "I knew it! The Earth Forces new mobile suits. Father, you traitor!" she yells as her knees bounce off the walkway.

_So they were for OMNI, _David thinks, but before anything else can go wrong David sees a female officer pointing her assault rifle at them. "Down!" He yells as he drags Mir out of the way after giving Kira and the girl a solid push in the other direction. "Get yourselves to one of those shelters! I'll take Mir to one! Go!"

Kira leads the girl quickly to the shelters on the far side of the giant room, but when they arrive, they discover that the only remaining shelter has only one opening left. He quickly pushes the girl in before she can argue and takes off back the way they came. About the time he gets back to the door where they'd first arrived, Kira looks over the side and sees a ZAFT commando in green sneaking up behind the Earth Forces officer that had shot at them earlier.

"Behind you!" He shouts in warning. The officer spins around, and empties the last few bullets in her clip at the soldier. Several of them hit, and drop the ZAFT green back over the side.

The officer, knowing that there's no way out of the facility anymore makes a snap decision. One that will be varyingly praised and cursed for the rest of her life. "Come down here!" She calls out to him.

"Thanks, but I'll go to the shelters on the left." He says as he starts off.

"There's nothing there but the fronts!" she yells back. Kira stops and then jumps down onto the mobile suit on which she stands.

He has just landed when a ZAFT elite shoots her in the right shoulder, causing her to drop her weapon and lose her footing. The only thing that keeps him from killing her is a jammed gun. Instead, the soldier draws a combat knife and activates his jetpack. He lands on top of the mobile suit and darts forward. Then he makes eye contact with Kira.

"Athrun?" Kira asks, and the ZAFT soldier checks up in surprise.

"Kira?" he asks, but before anything can develop, the Earth Forces Lieutenant manages to raise her sidearm, and empty most of a clip in the commando's direction, forcing him to back off. Not even a coordinator wants to take on two enemies with just a knife. Instead, he flies over to the other mobile suit and jumps into the cockpit.

With the threat gone for the moment, the OMNI soldier pushes Kira into the cockpit, and then jumps in herself.

XXXXX

The two mobile suits burst out of the dying facility with near simultaneity. That, however, is where any similarities end. While the captured machine lands easily beside a ZAFT GINN, the suit piloted by the Earth Forces officer seems to have trouble staying upright.

Tolle, Sai, and a third member of the group, Kuzzey are running toward yet another shelter when they see them.

"Look at that!" Tolle says. "More mobile suits, and these ones are different!"

"Just keep running!" Kuzzey says from up front.

Tolle keeps looking long enough to see the new suit switch from gunmetal gray to white with red and blue on the body and deflect the GINN's sword before he takes off after his comrades.

Meanwhile in the cockpit of the first model, the lieutenant whose nametag says 'Ramius,' Kira notes absently, is having lots of trouble, and only the activation of something called phase-shift armor keeps them from being chopped in half by the GINN in front of them. Somehow, the armor dissipates the effects of physical blows, and this renders the GINNs weapons useless, or would, Kira suddenly realizes, if the pilots were strapped down and weren't likely to brain themselves on their controls.

_That and falling on innocent bystanders_, he notes with sudden horror that three of his best friends are in the middle of the intersection just behind the suit. A suit that is about to be knocked over backwards by yet another blow from the GINN. This is a sub-optimal solution set. Kira decides to change the equation. He quickly reaches up to the control panel and taps a button that he thinks will cause the suit to strafe left. Instead, the mobile suit begins to kneel, effectively ducking the GINN's blow. _Or we could duck, _Kira thinks absently while he grabs one of the various throttles and shoves it all the way forwards. The impromptu shoulder tackle knocks the GINN backwards into a building. Kira takes the momentary pause and uses it to his advantage. "If you're going to fly something like this, then you should make better use of it," Kira immediately looks over the operating system and grimaces, "I take it back. With this crap in its memory banks, I'm surprised it can even stand."

"It's still in its trial stage; there wasn't time to upgrade it!" the lieutenant says defensively.

"Please move over," he says to the still stunned Officer who automatically complies, her face openly displaying her shock. Kira takes a deep breath and starts to redesign the OS on the fly, using some of what he and Dave had been working on that morning and combining it with his own programming instincts. "Recalibrate the ion pump . . . balance movement controls . . . there!" he shouts just as the GINN finally regains its feet and opens fire.

Kira flinches as the ZAFT machine opens fire, but the phase-shift holds, and Kira steps on a foot pedal that propels the mobile suit, which Kira discovered in his quick rewrite was named Strike, into a thruster assisted jump out of the GINN's line of fire. This, however, exposes him to several of the GINN's friends. Kira sees two of them out of his peripheral vision as he begins to search for something with which to shoot back. What he finds disappoints him, "Armor Schneiders? That's it?" but beggars can't be too choosy, so he hits the activation command and darts forward, knowing time is not on his side. Kira dashes forward, the Strike easily evading the GINN's fire, before juking to the side one last time and shoving one knife into its right shoulder and the other into the side of its neck, severing power cords and doing other assorted damage.

The first sign Kira had that there was something wrong was the enemy pilot jumping out of his suit. Half a dozen seconds later, before Kira can do much more than begin moving backwards the enemy suit self-detonates, knocking the Strike over immediately, and battering the two occupants. The Lieutenant is knocked out instantly, but Kira retains consciousness long enough to see three GINNS round the corner a block down the road. _There's something I should be doing to stop them, _Kira thinks absently before surrendering to the blackness that swirls in the corners of his vision.

XXXXX

David was lost. Totally and completely lost. After the first set of shelters turned out to be destroyed, he had led Mir deeper into the complex, knowing that there was another set on the far side. However, collapsed corridors had quickly made that option an impossibility. Now, he was just trying to get them out. Suddenly, there was another explosion, and the corridor's roof collapsed less that a dozen meters in front of them.

_So what's behind door number one? _He thinks sardonically as he runs up to the aperture just before the blockage. He kicks the door down and quickly steps through, dragging Mir behind him, but stops short at what he sees before him. _Okay . . . new plan. _"Hey, Mir, do you think that you could get one of those moving if I tell you what to do?" he says with false calm as he takes in the two mobile suits in front of them.

"Right now I'd walk into the men's locker room at school in my birthday suit if it meant getting out of here alive," she replies in relief at the thought of escape.

David, momentarily distracted by a very vivid mental image shakes his head. "Alright, grab hold of that and climb up!" He says, indicating the line running from the open cockpit to the floor. When he arrives in the cockpit, he looks around for a moment to accustom himself to the interface before yelling to Mir's mobile suit. "Alright Mir, small green button on the main control board beside the big orange one, push it!" he takes his own advice and watches as the activation screen pops up:

**G**eneral

**U**nilateral

**N**euro-link

**D**ispersive

**A**utonomic

**M**aneuver

"Gundam?" he wonders aloud. "Is that what you're called?" After taking stock of his systems, he quickly reaches over and activates the radio on a tight band to Mir's unit and closes the cockpit hatch. "Alright, there should be a control stick at arm level on the right side of the pilot's seat. That's your basic movement controls. No flight or anything, flying's way more complex, but that should get you out of here if you follow me, alright" he waits for a response for a moment and then triggers the radio again, "Ah, radio's the third small black button on the left control panel at seat level, oh, and you'd better close your hatch in case we get flying debris, that's number five by the way."

"Alright," he hears after a moment, and her cockpit seals and pressurizes. A few bits of detritus fall from the ceiling. "I'm so ready to get out of here!" she states.

David nods and begins looking for something with which to break his way out. _Head-mounted CIWS, beam saber, forearm mounted combat knife . . . okay that'll work. _David smiles and activates the chest-mounted beam Gatling cannons. He squeezes the trigger and almost immediately releases it. In the time that he had the cannons active, each of them fired three rounds. Each round tears a hole the size of a small car out of the wall in front of the mobile suits. The beams are almost immediately followed by David's unit, left shoulder first. He emerges into another huge room, like the previous one with one exception. This one has an outside access. David again triggers the Gatlings and tears half a dozen large holes in it as well and follows the beams out of the door before he realizes that he is no longer being followed. "Uh, Mir?"

XXXXX

Miriallia was receiving an object lesson in why Naturals do not belong in mobile suits. Turning was pretty easy, and walking hadn't been too bad, but she had nearly fallen all three times she had tried to scale the wall of debris David had left in his wake.

"Uh, Mir?"

"David! Not right now, I really don't want to hear it! This stupid thing is-" suddenly, the radio cut off, and for a moment nothing at all happened in the cockpit. _Oh no, please come back on, _she thinks in sudden horror, _please turn back on! _The mobile suit seems to comply. _"Unenhanced user detected. Initiating cockpit simplification cycle," _a light soprano announces and the cockpit dissolves into apparent anarchy. Control boards shift position and orientation, they combine and break down too fast to follow, and after several seconds, they lock back into place in what appears to be a much simpler configuration. After a half-dozen more seconds the radio reactivates on a very worried David.

"What happened?" David demands, "God! I thought something was wrong!" he says in relief.

"Well," Mir says, "my computer took over and 'simplified' the cockpit interface, its word, not mine," she says.

"Well let's hope it works." David says over the com.

Mir nods and experimentally pushes the control stick forward. The mobile suit responds instantly, going into a thruster assisted jump over the debris.

David's surprised face blinks, "Yeah, I think that works." He shakes his head, "Let's go!"

XXXXX

When he steps outside again, Mir is right behind him. And they are just in time to see one of the two mobile suits from the first room, he looks and sees that the computer has it tagged as GAT-X105 Strike, go flying through the air trailed by tracers from a GINN's assault rifle. "Uh Mir, weren't those mobile suits gray like ours? Cuz I gotta say that one doesn't look gray now," He shakes his head and moves out down the road. Keeping one eye on the road ahead he looks with greater depth over the weapons his suit mounts. _Chest-mounted Gatlings, alright got those down, I think. Head mounted CIWS, useful for shooting down missiles, but the caliber's too small to hurt something as heavily armored as a mobile suit. Beam saber . . . very nice that'll go through a GINN's armor like a hot knife through butter. Forearm blade. Now what's up with this? _David looks more closely at the systems and his brow furrows. _Well, that's interesting. _He hits one of the buttons and then another in quick succession, and the forearm blade springs out of its sheath and locks into place over the middle knuckle on the left hand. Meanwhile, the shield on the outside of the upper arm slides down and around and settles into place on the center of the forearm and, twisting ninety degrees, doubles in size to about that of the MS Miriallia is piloting. David nods in satisfaction before triggering the radio. "Hey Mir, we might be going in hot, so you'd better look through your weapons,"

"Don't worry," Mir responds, "I set the mobile suit to follow you at a twenty meter delay; I've been looking over the weapons since we left," seeing the surprised look on David's face, Mir continues acerbically "What, you didn't think that I couldn't handle it?"

"Nonono!" He says quickly "I'm just surprised that an AI can do all of that," he says quickly.

XXXXX

"-can do all of that," David says over the com.

Mir nods and continues looking at her displays. _Now all I have to do is prove that I can do it, _she reflects. She looks at the weapons again, and selects the beam rifle. Immediately, the mobile suit draws it from the holster on the suit's right hip and a targeting visor slides down over her right eye. Just in time, as it turns out. As David's unit takes the corner, it flies into the air with a thruster assisted jump. Mir's unit begins to follow, but then stops and begins to drop as the still unexpected soprano comes over her speakers, "_GINN thermal energy patterns detected. Phase-shift armor activation is recommended. Autopilot disengaged" _Mir struggles to remember where she's seen the phase shift button before, then quickly reaches for the defensive maneuvers panel. She's just in time. Two of the three enemy mobile suits continue to target David's unit, but one sees what he thinks is a less than alert straggler and fires. The bullets strike a suddenly dark blue torso with black and gray highlights. Mir almost instinctively squeezes off a shot.

Normally it would have missed, as the standard tactic in mobile suit warfare is the venerable shoot-and-scoot approach. In most cases, he would have vacated the spot from which he fired before the bullets arrived on target. This time, however, he stuck around to watch the pretty explosion as the high explosive rounds tore through the unprepared suit. It was a testament to the doctors who rearranged his genetic code that he was able to move nearly two meters to the side before the shot hit. It wasn't enough to generate a miss, but instead of bisecting the cockpit, the beam of emerald fury only took a core sample of the GINN's battery. It took almost half a second for the chain of secondary explosions to reach the cockpit.

The explosion was, in point of fact, quite pretty.

XXXXX

David rounded the corner at precisely the same time that a unit of three GINNs did the same not a quarter mile away. If he hadn't had his shield in its melee position the HE rounds would probably have destroyed his unit. If he hadn't been a Coordinator, he couldn't have reacted quickly enough to put his shield between himself and the ZAFT machines. Fortunately, he had put his shield in the melee position and he was a coordinator. As a result, he blocked their first volley, and got into the air fast enough to avoid their second. It was only after he had begun to strafe left that he remembered his impromptu wingman. He turns his head back, almost expecting to see an expanding cloud of gasses carrying a few recognizable parts. He does not.

Very few veterans of First Jachin could have responded with more ability and poise than technology student Miriallia Haww. Before the bullets had even left her opponent's gun, her Gundam went from the base metallic gray to a blue so dark it was nearly purple with black and lighter gray highlights. She had apparently figured out the color-changing trick that the Strike had pulled off earlier. The rounds, designed to penetrate the armor of a battleship, had precisely no effect on the new armor, whatever it was. Mir responded by firing one shot from her beam rifle before ducking back behind her shield. She apparently hit something important though, because the GINN that had fired at her disappeared in the fury of a battery hit.

David was wishing she'd tell him how she pulled it off when a radio link opened. "Activate your phase-shift armor! It'll protect you from their weapons."

David remembers the button marked phase-shift and immediately hits it. His machine promptly turns a ruby-red with white accents. One of the GINNs, seeing his comrade downed, switches his target, and begins to shoot at Mir, as she has the more obvious weapons. _That was a mistake, _David smiles as he strokes the trigger for his chest-mounted Gatlings.

Before he can release the trigger, each gun fires four beams. Of those eight beams, three miss entirely. One strikes the GINN's head, while another removes the right arm at the elbow. The other three penetrate the torso and reduce the GINN to a series of molecules suspended in air by the superheated gases the detonation produces.

Seeing his comrades dispatched with ease, the pilot of the third GINN tries to retreat. He manages to get all of fifty meters before David's Gundam destroys him with yet another burst from the beam Gatlings.

Suddenly, several things that he had been seeing all along register: first he notices that this has been a battlefield before. The pieces of GINN seem to indicate a self-detonation, second is that the Strike is laying with its top half inside a building hear where the GINNs came out of the crossing street, finally, he sees three of his friends from the university standing up against the buildings on the left side of the street. _Alright, third thing first. _He quickly deactivates the phase-shift armor, seeing how quickly it's depleting his energy reserves, and activates the external speakers, "Hey guys, you all right?"

The three students, Sai, Tolle, and Kuzzey look around in confusion for a moment before their eyes return to the mobile suit in front of them. "David?" Sai yells, "You're the pilot?"

Mir apparently realizes what's happening, because she too disables the PSA on her unit, and apparently finds the speakers as well, "Guys, are you all okay? I didn't even see you there!"

This time, it's Tolle that speaks. "Mir!" he manages in a half strangled voice before falling over in a dead faint.

David shakes his head, _One out of three, not bad considering. _Forcing himself to start thinking again he begins issuing orders. "Alright, we need to get the Strike, that's the other mobile suit, out of here and into a more open area. You two wake Tolle up and meet us in the park in ten, okay?" The others nod. "Alright, let's be about it."

XXXXX

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Murrue Ramius of OMNI Enforcer struggled awake, and confirmed, yet again, that she was not having a good day. Everything hurt. After several moments, she verifies that all of her extremities are responding when she remembers what happened before she was knocked unconscious. She opens her eyes, expecting to see the cockpit of the Strike above her; however, the sight that greets her is somewhat different. Instead of an instrument panel, she sees the sky of Heliopolis. Blinking, she begins to sit up.

"Hey, guys! She's awake!" a voice says beside her. She looks and sees a boy she doesn't recognize looking at her curiously. Before she can pull enough thought together to ask his name, a second person arrives, and this one she does recognize.

"Please, don't try to move too much just yet. We haven't been able to tell just how badly you're hurt," he says.

Murrue, however, knows that they may not have much time. She manages, with only a little help from the bays, to pull herself to her feet. "What happened?" she asks, looking around. The terrain is somewhat different from what it was where they had fought the GINN. She concludes her cursory inspection of the area and focuses on the Strike, which, she suddenly notices, has a civilian climbing all over it.

Before any of the others can react, she has her sidearm out and has fired a warning shot over the G-weapon's left shoulder. "Get down from there!" she yells, "All of you, over here!"

As having a gun pointed at one tends to clarify ones thought patterns wonderfully, the four students comply. After they've all assembled, Lieutenant Ramius begins to speak, "You have all been exposed to classified technology of the Earth Forces, thus I have no choice but to detain you." After allowing them a few moments to process this information, she speaks again. "Your names, all of you."

"Kuzzey Buskirk,"

"Sai Argyle,"

"Tolle Koenig,"

"Kira Yamato," he says, but not with hostility. Hostility would be expected of someone finding himself suddenly a prisoner. Humor is generally not. Lieutenant Ramius quickly discerns the reason for his humor, however, after all, the sound a mobile suit in flight makes is rather unique. Even if that hadn't given it away, the vibration from something weighing around seventy or eighty tons suddenly landed would have. Murrue turns around, not sure what to expect. What she sees nearly floors her. _A sixth G-weapon? _she wonders. _But there were only five, and I helped with all of them!_

A voice comes over the new machine's external speakers, "I don't like it when people point guns at my friends," the female voice says as Murrue looks up the bore of a beam rifle. "Since we seem to be collecting names, what's yours?"

"It seems that you have me at a disadvantage," Lieutenant Ramius says to the G in front of her as she holsters her pistol. "What are your intentions?"

"I don't really know what the plan is. David went off to find something called a Heavy Arms pack. All I know is that he doesn't like ZAFT much, so I see no reason for us to be enemies. Honestly, we'll need the support of the earth forces to survive. The batteries on these things won't last forever, certainly not long enough to get to the moon. So do what you feel you need to." Mir continues, "If you don't shoot at my friends, I won't use you as a footstool,"

"Very well," Murrue says, ignoring the joke/threat, "You, Sai right? Could you get the number five trailer? Kira please get back into the Strike and try to contact any members of the Earth Forces,"

Murrue wandered around nursing a severe case of nerves for several minutes before asking the mobile suit, "I remember there being several more GINNs in the area, where did they go?"

"I took one down; David took care of the other two," Mir says in response. Murrue's eyes are as big as saucers, but Miriallia doesn't seem to notice as she continues, "I've been looking at the radio equipment, and I don't have any Earth Forces frequencies, in fact, the only frequency I've got is the one for David's suit. Do you know why that would be?"

"I don't think that those suits were designed by the Alliance, Orb might have built them themselves though," Murrue responds. A few moments later, Sai pulls up in a trailer.

"The number five trailer, as requested," he says as Kira jumps out of the Strike.

"Thank you Sai, any luck Kira?" Murrue replies.

"No, there's nothing on any of the bands but static," Kira says in response.

"What do we do now?" Sai asks her.

"Mount the Launcher pack on the Strike," Murrue orders, "Maybe that'll give it enough power to penetrate the jamming," she continues, not really believing it, but wanting to do something all the same.

"Okay," Kira says as he jumps back into the G.

XXXXX

Mir was getting nervous, they had had no contact with either side for almost three hours, and the atmosphere in her cockpit was getting thick with tension. She could just feel it; something had to break soon. So when her radio crackled to life, she about jumped out of her skin.

"Hey M- . . . . . way back . . . –nd it! Should be . . . minutes to your . . . –tion," David's voice rings through the cockpit.

"David, this is Miriallia, please repeat that, I couldn't make much of it out," Mir says into the throat mic. However, before he can answer, her thermal sensors register a powerful spike, one that the computer designates as an explosion. Mir looks at the upper viewscreens and sees part of the colony's support shaft wreathed in flame before a Moebius Zero minus its wired gunbarrels comes shooting out trailed by a CGUE and two GINNs. Mir immediately scrolls to the beam rifle and presses inward before pressing the activation button for the PSA and trying for a lock on one of the three ZAFT suits. However, the proximity of the Zero to the suits makes any intervention on Mir's part impossible. _I hope David has a shot. _Mir quickly hits her external speakers, "Kira quickly! Get the phase-shift up!"

XXXXX

"What? More of them?" _So they managed to keep another one from us._

XXXXX

"There were more of those things?" _Why didn't the General mention more than five G-weapons?_

XXXXX

"I . . . . . much of . . . out," David hears over his radio. However, Mir's garbled signal is very quickly the least of his worries as he sees a part of the support shaft explode. The battle overhead is quite short, though the Zero gives an ample performance, dodging left, and shifting right, the CGUE finally manages to take off the barrel of its linear cannon with a sword strike. However, the ZAFT suits seem to have bigger fish to fry. The two GINNs have already broken off and are diving toward the park, and the pair of mobile suits there, both of whom most likely contain two of his best friends. As there is no returning fire, David surmises that they must be using the support shaft as a shield so Mir won't fire. This was unacceptable. Hoping that the arm-mounted Gatling of the Heavy Arms pack is more accurate than the other two since he is over a mile away from the action, he takes aim at the leading GINN and fires. The five-barreled arm Gatling is much more accurate. Out of a dozen shots, three hit their mark, and of those three, at least one hits something vital, because the leading GINN simply blows up. This causes the second GINN to check up, both to avoid the shots, and the pieces of his partner's suit.

Unfortunately for him, this gives Mir an open shot. The first beam passes through the GINN's left shoulder. The second removes the cockpit entirely. And suddenly, the numbers are in their favor. However, in doing this, they have both ignored the CGUE.

XXXXX

Mir smiles slightly as she takes out the second GINN; however, her amusement turns to horror as the enemy commander's suit takes the chance to dive bomb the Strike. "Kira, look out!" she tries to target the CGUE with her beam rifle, but cannot get anything even resembling a lock. However, just as the ZAFT suit raises its rifle, the Strike connects to the Launcher pack. The Strike's PSA comes up just before the bullets can hit. Suddenly, however, a huge explosion shakes the colony, and out of a cloud of smoke and debris, a huge ship appears.

XXXXX

David's mouth drops in surprise as he swiftly swivels, trying to target the intruder before his systems tag its IFF as friendly. David grins in relief glad that those really, _really, _big guns won't be shooting at him in the near future.

XXXXX

Mir notices all of this in only a peripheral fashion. She scrolls through her weapons and selects a second one, aims, and pulls the trigger. Her mobile suit's left hand reaches up to the left shoulder and pulls off what had looked to be a decorative piece. The suit shifts the weapons position and throws it . . . nowhere near its target. The pilot of the enemy suit apparently decides it is no threat, because he continues to fly toward the new ship. Suddenly the object activates a set of beam emitters and its flight path shifts dramatically; it is now headed straight towards the CGUE.

Most pilots wouldn't have been able to recognize the threat in time to react; on the other hand, a ZAFT commander is, by definition, not most pilots. Instead of bisecting the cockpit, the beam boomerang only takes off the CGUE's right leg at the knee. This seems to convince the ZAFT soldier that flight is the best option. He switches direction and begins to head back to the hole in the support shaft.

XXXXX

Kira is determined not to let the CGUE get away, and this time, he has a long range weapon. Kira lifts the gun on the Strike's right arm and targets the ZAFT suit. He hears the Earth Forces officer say something, but it doesn't really register until after he pulls the trigger.

She had been yelling not to fire, something about the weapon being too powerful.

_Oops._

XXXXX

Miriallia watched as the intense red beam from the Strike's cannon tore the whole right arm of the CGUE off before continuing and punching a mobile suit sized hole in the wall of the colony. The ZAFT MS, apparently not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, shoots out through the hole and into space trailed by several shots from her beam rifle. And once again, in the colony of Heliopolis, silence reigned.

With ZAFT's forces in retreat, the Earth Forces and the students had a little time to regroup. The Earth Forces battleship/assault carrier which her systems tag as the Archangel lands nearby as David, his suit now equipped with the Heavy Arms pack, comes into view. After the three pilots greet each other they gather up the other students and Lieutenant Ramius and fly them up to the Archangel.

The three students and Lt. Ramius are quickly and carefully deposited on the hanger floor before all three G-weapons deactivate their PSA and power down. While the three pilots prepare to get down out of their mobile suits Murrue turns to the approaching side party (A/N a side party is a group of people sent to greet new arrivals. Sorry for the technical jargon).

"Lieutenant Ramius!" the black-haired woman in the lead calls with a smile, "After what happened to the Archangel, we feared the worst!"

"Ensign Badgiruel," Murrue says with a smile in return, "It's good to see you, and thank you for watching out for the Archangel during the battle."

"So these are three of the G-weapons?" Natarle asks suddenly concerned, "What happened to the other two?"

"Actually, these are three of seven. There were two of them that even I didn't know about. Unfortunately, the other four were captured by ZAFT." Murrue says while the Ensign's jaw drops in dismay. The opening of the three cockpits goes largely unnoticed until the three pilots begin to descend on the built in access lines.

One of the maintenance men, a chief petty officer with the name Murdoch on his uniform asks, "What's going on? They're just kids, what are they doing as pilots?"

"Lieutenant? What's going on?" Ensign Badgiruel inquires somewhat more sharply than she probably should have.

"Well, this is a surprise," The pilot of the mobile armor says as he joins the other two officers. "Lieutenant Mwu La Flaga (A/N I like the fansub spelling better and it's my fic) of the Seventh Orbital Fleet, at your service," he concludes with a smile.

All those nearby salute as they recognize the name of the Hawk of Endymion. "I'm Lieutenant Murrue Ramius, Sector Two, Fifth Special Division. I'm a crew member of this ship."

"Ensign Natarle Badgiruel, same division."

La Flaga returns the salutes, "It's an honor. Permission to come aboard? Also, who's in command of the ship?"

Ensign Badgiruel hesitates before responding, "The Captain and all of the senior officers were greeting the new pilots when the attack occurred. There were no survivors." She states to the stunned observers.

"What? The Captain- I can't be-" Murrue stutters, apparently unable to complete a sentence in her shock.

"What a rat fu- er disaster," La Flaga says, shaking his head after nearly losing his cool. Anyway, Captain, please allow me to board. The ship I was assigned to engaged the enemy and was destroyed."

"Of course Lieutenant; permission granted," Ramius says with a quick nod.

"So none of the pilots I was assigned to protect survived?" he asks, looking at Natarle.

"No Sir," she says sadly.

Mwu nods, "I see," he says before turning to look at Kira, Mir, David, and the others. "So who do we have over here?" he asks.

"They're all teenage civilian that were in the factory district when the attack began. I brought that one," she indicates Kira, "aboard that G there when I escaped, it's called the Strike by the way. He used it to down a GINN, and I assume you saw what happened with the CGUE." Mwu nods in affirmation. "The other two pilots are that girl there, I don't know her name, and that boy, but from what she said earlier, his name is David." She concludes.

"That kid took down a GINN?" Ensign Badgiruel asks, obviously impressed.

"I see," Mwu says, an expression of curiosity on his face as he walks toward the group.

David sees him coming and inquires, "Is something wrong?"

"So tell me, you're all Coordinators?" Mwu says/asks conversationally.

Though the question is directed at the three pilots, Tolle is the one who speaks first, "Are you kidding, Mir's not a Coordinator neith-"

David raises a hand, effectively cutting the other student off. "Miriallia isn't a Coordinator, but Kira and I are."

Almost instantly, the guards point their rifles at the two Coordinators in their midst. The tension is ratcheting higher by the moment, but then Tolle jumps between the soldiers and his friends. "What are you, crazy?" he cries, "They just saved all of us!"

"Tolle," Kira says trying to quiet his friend before he does something stupid and gets himself shot.

Tolle merely steamrolls over the statement. "You all saw what happened! They may be Coordinators, but they're not with ZAFT! You must all be out of your minds!"

The tension in the air backs off, but only a little. It is finally dispelled when Lieutenant Ramius waves her hand. "At ease! Lower your weapons," she orders.

The soldiers comply, looking at each other with nervousness readily apparent in their expressions. "Lieutenant, I respectfully request an explanation," Ensign Badgiruel says with less respect and more incredulity than she thinks she displays as she vocalizes the question that all the others are thinking, her rank as an officer giving her the authority to ask.

"When you think about it, it's really not terribly hard to understand," she answers Badgiruel, "Heliopolis is neutral territory; it only makes sense that those Coordinators who don't want to be involved in the war would take refuge here," she turns and looks at Dave and Kira, "Am I right?"

"Yeah," Kira says, "especially since we're both first-generation coordinators."

"Which means, of course, that your parents are Naturals. I can see how that would cause problems," Mwu says apologetically. "I didn't mean to cause an incident. I was just curious, that's all." Mwu suddenly smiles, "It's your grace that gave you away. I saw the pilots practicing on the way here, and they were having trouble just getting those things to stand up! But you three make it look easy, like the steps of some elegant waltz." He shakes his head and looks at Mir. "Miriallia was it? Sometime I'd like to know how a Natural can manage that," he concludes with a smile.

"So what do we do now?" Natarle asks as Mwu turns away from the teens.

"Well," Mwu temporizes, "I've been shot down, and the Le Creuset team is still waiting outside with at least one more team for backup. I don't think that they'll be content to wait for long," Mwu says with a headshake.

The three officers head off to the bridge, while a crewman leads the six students off towards a bunk room that they can use for a while.

XXXXX

While the crew of the Archangel planned their next move, the six students relaxed in the quarters that they had been temporarily assigned.

"How can they sleep at a time like this?" Kuzzey asks quietly, indicating Kira and Mir, each of them racked out on bunks, dead to the world.

David smiles, "Combat fatigue. Being in a cockpit when there's fighting going on like there was earlier is like running uphill. When you come down off the adrenalin high, you crash like that," he says pointing towards his sleeping friends.

"So then why aren't you sleeping too," Tolle says with a smile. "Taking it easy out there?" he teases.

David smiles despite himself. "No, I'm just not down off the adrenalin high yet," when the others look at him questioningly he continues, "Earth Alliance ship." He says ticking the points off on his fingers, "Me, as a Coordinator. Blue Cosmos. I'm still expecting some nutjob to yell, 'For a Blue and Pure World,' and try and stick a knife in me,"

"Ya know, speaking of Coordinators," Kuzzey says, "I've wondered for a while now if Kira was one, though it never crossed my mind that you were too Dave. Could you explain something to me?" David nods. "You guys can do all of these mind-blowing things, and for you it's just a little bit difficult. I mean, you can pilot mobile suits, you're faster, you're smarter, and you're stronger. I mean Kira even rewrote an entire operating system in the middle of a fight! Do the Earth Forces stand a chance when every person from the Plants is like that?"

David considers for a moment just how to respond. "Okay Kuzzey, it's like this. The Plants and ZAFT have individual soldiers capable of lots of destruction. Hell, a GINN can take out an Earth Forces Battleship with only a little luck. But to be quite cold about it, the Earth Alliance has people to spend. There are literally billions of people on the planet, but there are only a few million in the Plants. Statistically, it takes four and a half Moebius units to take out a GINN. So a GINN can kill four enemy units, but, statistically, the fifth one will get him almost every time. The Coordinators have a qualitative edge a mile wide, but their advantage is matched by the sheer quantity that the Earth can bring to bear. Most of the time, the side with the better tech and individual superiority wins. However, just look at the conflict in Vietnam in the twentieth century. Occasionally sheer numbers can overwhelm even the most powerful." David concludes. "Anyway, I was out there too! I is goin' to bed." David says as he maneuvers himself into one of the remaining lower bunks for a nap.

XXXXX

Meanwhile on the bridge, Ramius returns the borrowed headset to the communications console before turning back to the two other officers present. "The interior of the colony is almost completely evacuated, but I've been informed that the Strike's display of firepower has upped the hazard level in the colony to nine."

"Which," Mwu points out, "means that the shelters will all be locked down. So what are we going to do with those kids?"

"We can't exactly let them go free, even if there was someplace to put them. They've been exposed to classified military secrets." Natarle says.

"Are you proposing that we have them join us in our escape? One we exit the colony, we'll be involved in some pretty heavy fighting! There are two Nazca class ship and two Laurasia class ships plus who-knows-how-many GINNs, and, if they're feeling reckless, four of our own G-weapons!" Mwu exclaims.

"First of all, I didn't really detain them, when I tried that, the girl, Miriallia, threatened to step on me. We came to a mutual understanding that getting out of the colony intact would be the best result and I was best equipped to accomplish that. The fact that all three of them left their units at once tells me that they trust us at least a little." Murrue says thoughtfully. "Those three kids accounted for six GINNs inside the colony, so that leaves a maximum of eighteen minus however many you took out Lieutenant."

"Well that's a good thing," Mwu says, "I took down two, but with my Zero out of the fight, those three units are probably our only hope of getting out of this cluste- er mess alive."

"Why don't you pilot one of them, Lieutenant?" Badgiruel asks.

"I don't think that it's possible. The only one with the ability to be flown by a natural in unresponsive. That girl's unit won't even acknowledge our existence." Mwu says. "It's giving the maintenance people fits,"

"Still," Badgiruel says, "it seems . . . inappropriate to give that much power to people we don't even know!"

"I don't see what choice we have. A Natural couldn't fly two out of the three, and the one a Natural can fly won't respond to anyone but the girl." Murrue says, "I'll go down and speak with them, and if their terms aren't unreasonable, then I will accept them. Please take care of things while I'm gone."

XXXXX

David jerks awake as the door opens, his heart racing and his left hand going for the hilt of one of his throwing knives before he realizes that it's just the Captain, and not a Blue Cosmos cell at the entrance.

"If I might have a moment of your time? There's something that I'd like to ask you three," she says, indicating himself, Kira, and Mir.

David's face goes suddenly blank as he anticipates the worst. Mir seems merely inquisitive, but Kira's face is blanketed by suspicion. "What do you want?" Kira asks.

Murrue hesitates, not wanting to broach the subject in front of the others before finally deciding to just say it. "We need your help." Murrue says flatly, "ZAFT won't wait long, and there are four ships and anywhere from eleven to sixteen GINNs as well. I really hate to ask this of all of you, but will you help us defend this ship when ZAFT attacks again?"

This is exactly what Kira has been expecting. "No! This isn't our war! We don't want any further part of it!" Kira explodes. "We're neutral! This isn't our figh-"

"Shut up, Kira," David says, abruptly cutting off the teens tirade. "If you don't want to fight, then say so and then be quiet; there's no need to be rude. Lieutenant Ramius is just looking after her ship. She could have threatened us to get us to cooperate, but she didn't." He turns to Murrue. "I assume that the colony is now at at least hazard level eight, and probably level nine?" He asks and Murrue nods. "Which means, of course, that all of the shelters are in lockdown mode. As for this not being our fight? Kira this became our fight the second that rat-bastard Le Creuset attacked this colony. For all that he knew, the mobile suits being produced here were for the defense of Orb. He might have suspected or feared that they were intended for OMNI, but he had zero proof! His attack was illegal and immoral, and I, for one, will go out there and protect this ship from bastards like him any day." David says coldly before turning back to Murrue, who is standing with her jaw hanging loose. "Ma'am, if the offer is still open, I will defend this ship under your orders."

However, before the Lieutenant can pull herself together enough to respond, the room's intercom activates. "_Bridge to Captain Ramius! Captain Ramius, please respond!_"

Murrue activates the panel. "Yes? What is it?"

"_ZAFT's attacking!_" Lieutenant La Flaga says severely. "_We have many mobile suits incoming! Get up here and take command! You're the Captain!_"

The new Captain's eyes widen, "What? I am?"

"_I have seniority, but I don't know anything about this ship!_"

"I understand. What about your Mobile Armor, Lieutenant?"

"_The repairs aren't completed yet,_" La Flaga says.

"Then please take control of the Combat Information Center. I'll be right there," She frowns and turns back to the six students. "You heard him, this ship will be entering battle again. We're badly undermanned, but hopefully we'll be able to get through the battle intact."

Kira clenches his fists, "This isn't fair!" he yells at the Captain.

However, it isn't the captain who responds. "Life isn't fair, Kira," David says gently. "If life were fair, then you'd still be back on the moon at Copernicus and we wouldn't be at war. I understand if you don't want to go out there; I just want you to know that I won't hold it against you. Either of you," David says before he and the captain head out the door.

Kira looks at Mir for a few moments, then both of them nod and take off down the corridors toward the hanger bay.

XXXXX

Captain Ramius enters the bridge just as things are getting interesting, "Report!" she says as she takes the commander's chair.

"All systems are online, we're as ready as we're going to get!" Lieutenant La Flaga says from his chair in CIC.

Crewman Tonomura pales as he looks at his screens, "My God, Captain! I'm detecting fourteen GINNs and . . . the X303 Aegis!"

Ramius pales as well when she hears those numbers. _Good Lord! They must really want to see us dead! _"They're already sending it against us?"

"It's theirs now!" La Flaga says from CIC. "Are you just gonna let them sink us?"

"Of course not!" the Captain says, looking down at the Lieutenant in CIC. "What's the status of our mobile suits?"

"They can all go out, assuming we have pilots for them. The Strike has the Sword Striker pack on it to limit collateral damage." The Lieutenant says.

Murrue takes a deep breath. "Activate Gottfrieds! Load missile tubes with Corinthos and prepare to launch! Deploy Valiants! Prepare to fire upon targets of opportunity!" She continues, preparing her ship as well as she can for the battle ahead.

XXXXX

David runs into the hanger just moments after Murrue gets to the bridge. When he gets to his unit, he stops and shouts angrily, "Alright! What the hell happened!" Murdoch pokes his head around the corner.

"Sorry, kid. We thought we'd have more time before they attacked, besides, we had to find out how it worked sometime."

David smacks his forehead and swears for several moments in Japanese and Spanish. "Alright, I can deal with this. Next time though, don't take the Heavy Arms pack off without my permission, okay!"

Murdoch nods, "Good luck, Kid!"

David immediately grabs the access line and begins his ascent. He gets into the cockpit and activates his systems just in time to see Kira and Miriallia enter the hanger and head to their units. David triggers his radio, "This is David, I'm preceding to the catapult," he says as his suit's feet attach to the launch tracks. "What's the situation?"

Badgiruel's voice comes over the com, "We've got fourteen GINNs and the Aegis inbound. Try to keep them off of us without hitting the support shaft, alright?"

"Confirmed," David says as the light turns green. "David Almafi, going out!"

XXXXX

Murrue looks out the viewport and orders, "Target the Gottfrieds on the Aegis and fire. Try to keep it off balance! Target missile tubes seven through eighteen on the GINNs and fire, reserve the others for targets of opportunity! Lieutenant La Flaga, take any shots you see with the linear cannons or the missiles! Don't wait for my confirmation."

The Gottfrieds fire, and disperse the concentration of mobile suits while a dozen missiles fire at the three most isolated GINNs. They are all shot down short of their targets, but evading and shooting down missiles keeps them from targeting the Archangel, instead of a massed group of enemies, the Archangel's Igelstellung meets only a handful of penny packet groups, and the new ship's CIWS is equal to the task of dealing with them. Murrue smiles and tries to come up with a good way to counterattack.

XXXXX

The Gottfrieds and missiles fire just as David's unit is leaving the port side hanger bay doors. David smiles as the enemy suits scatter. He reaches over and hits his PSA and then shifts the left arm into melee mode while he draws his suit's beam saber. The shield shifts downward and doubles in size while the wrist blade extends and locks into position. David locks onto the nearest GINN, who doesn't seem to notice him, occupied as he is shooting down missiles aimed at one of his friends. David doesn't give him a chance to dodge, he simply opens fire with his beam Gatling guns. The GINN's pilot doesn't even have time to scream before his battery detonates and turns the mighty war machine into a cloud of microscopic particles. David smiles. _One down, fourteen to go! _He thinks, as behind him, the Strike and Mir's unit launch from the starboard and port catapults, respectively. Suddenly David goes pale as he really looks at the GINNs in front of him. _Aw shit. _"Archangel, be aware that approximately half of the enemy mobile suits are equipped with anti-fortification weaponry!"

XXXXX

Murrue grins as David destroys one of the distracted GINNs before a message comes over the radio, "_Archangel, be aware that approximately half of the enemy mobile suits are equipped with anti-fortification weaponry!_"

Murrue congratulates herself on keeping something in reserve. "Task Helldarts to anti-missile fire!" she calls out just as the first GINN fires at the Archangel. Luckily, her order comes in time, and the incoming missiles vanish as the Helldart's interdiction system works as advertised. Then, the odds change even more in the Archangel's favor as the Strike and Mir's unit take the fight to the enemy. _We may just get out of this mess yet!_

XXXXX

Athrun swears as the Archangel's Gottfrieds fire yet again, forcing him to dodge, but this time, they fire staggered, and the second set nearly gets him. Only the Aegis's anti-beam shield allows him to escape destruction. Suddenly one of the escort GINNs blows up, and Athrun gets his first glimpse of David's unit. _That must be the seventh machine, the one that Commander Le Creuset didn't get a visual on! _He thinks before being forced to dodge the Gottfrieds yet again, this time they try to bracket him in. He avoids them successfully, but he is forced to cut momentum once more and move away from his intended target. Then, all of a sudden, the Strike and the other new unit are there, slashing into the flanks of the attacking force. _Damn, this is going from bad to worse!_

XXXXX

Mir smiles when she sees the Strike with its oversized anti-shipping sword. Unexpectedly feeling the desire to expand her horizons, Mir thumbs the selector. Her mobile suit's right hand reaches up to her right shoulder and draws the cut down version of the same sword as the Strike holds and activates it as she charges into the melee. The first GINN is so surprised to see her that it almost cannot evade in time. He manages to move just far enough that he loses his suit's head to Mir's slash instead of his own. However, a person can only dodge what he can see. Mir's second slash with the undersized ship-killer takes both legs off, and sets off a chain reaction that destroys the GINN. _Got one! _she thinks with a smile before quickly retargeting on yet another GINN and flying off to engage it.

XXXXX

On the bridge of the Archangel, Mwu is beginning to get annoyed. Despite his efforts, the Archangel has yet to shoot down even one GINN. However, Mir's sudden charge into the rapidly evading pack of ZAFT suits presents him with an opportunity. As three GINNs scatter from her assault upon one of their fellows in an attempt to gain enough range for their bazookas to be accurate, Mwu's fingers fly across his targeting panels. In their distraction, the three suits have forgotten the Archangel. Just as Mir finishes with her first kill and prepares to move on to a second, the Assault Carrier fires both of its Valiant linear cannons and all twelve missiles from tubes one through six and eighteen through twenty-four. The two GINNs targeted by the gigantic railguns on either side of the ship simply vanish. Moments later, two missiles detonate less than a dozen yards from the third GINN, and it is destroyed as well.

Mwu lets out a war cry that has most of the bridge crew wanting to cover their ears. "Got three of them!" He yells in triumph from the secondary console in CIC.

The Captain smiles after ordering a slight heading change, "Good work Lieutenant! Now, do it again."

XXXXX

Kira takes off from the starboard catapult, and immediately finds himself surrounded by enemies. He takes note of the fact that he is isolated from his companions, accepts it, and starts swinging. The GINN he is fighting puts up its sword to block the strike of the massive Schwert Gewehr anti-shipping sword; however, the gigantic two-handed weapon shears through the GINN's blade like it doesn't exist before continuing through the top of the GINN's head and out the base of its left leg. The GINN explodes moments later, but Kira has already moved on to another enemy. This one, though, has rather more skill than the last. Kira finds himself dodging well-aimed attacks from the obviously veteran fighter. Good he may be, but Kira uses his enemy's unfamiliarity with the G-weapon's design to his advantage. After avoiding three shots, he takes the fourth on the base of the Panzer Eisen which doubles as a shield.

Kira's enemy does exactly what Kira expects. He stops and asks over a general frequency, "Did I get him?"

His answer comes in the form of a fifteen and three quarters meter sword. The ZAFT pilot is barely quick enough to dodge. Kira then reaches up with his suit's left hand and draws the Sword Striker's beam boomerang. He throws it right at the GINN, whose pilot easily avoids the outbound weapon. He is somewhat less fortunate when it returns.

The beam weapon slices through his suits left leg like a hot knife goes through butter. While the pilot is trying to fly without half of his thrusters, Kira closes the distance and neatly cuts the GINN in two.

XXXXX

"Miguel!" Athrun yells in horror as one of his longtime friends is cut in half by the Strike's colossal sword. However, Athrun doesn't have time to mourn as the new assault ship fires its main guns at him yet again, forcing him into yet another evasive maneuver. And taking him out of range of the killer of the Magic Bullet of Dusk.

XXXXX

David, seeing Mir's tactics, smiles. _Very good strategy! If your enemy wants to fight at range, then force him to engage up close, _he thinks as he follows her into the furball. The first GINN to get in his way is an escort with a sword and rifle. The sword blocks the first beam saber strike, but David makes good use of the blade on his suit's left wrist. After all, a GINN with a three-meter deep hole in its side doesn't work very well. It works even worse after it blows up. David sees Mir cut another of the escorts in half as he blocks a bazooka blast from one of the heavy units. He starts to go off after it, but something catches his eye from his peripheral vision. He turns and looks at it.

It's one of the remaining escorts, and it's heading for the Archangel's bridge. David kicks his thrusters to full power, not daring to fire his Gatling guns for fear that the inaccurate weapons will hit what he is trying to protect. It's a race to see who can get to the lightly defended viewport first.

The home team wins this time. David prepares to take off the GINN's head from behind with his beam saber right as the built in, rechargeable battery fails and the powerful energy weapon goes dead in his hand. _Damn! _he thinks as he shoves it back into the recharge rack. The GINN is raising its rifle when his Gundam's right fist connects with its left shoulder, ripping the entire arm off. Its burst of fire, intended to take out the Archangel's vulnerable bridge, hits nothing.

David is about to destroy the suit when he checks his movement. Instead of thrusting his wrist blade all the way through his opponent's suit, he stabs just deeply enough to kill the pilot before dropping the suit onto the deck of the Archangel and continuing on his way.

XXXXX

Mir was having a more difficult time than she had had in the beginning. This particular enemy was rather skilled. He had managed to parry all of her strikes for nearly a minute, and Mir was getting impatient. When yet another two-handed strike is deflected Mir remembers a feature she had noticed earlier. She flicks a switch on the control stick and hits a button on the side of the left stick.

Outside, something rather more drastic was happening. Mir's suit let go of the hand-and-a-half sword with its left hand and gripped the beam saber on the left hip, draws it, and activates the beam. The GINN is suddenly confronted with two threat sources, and Mir pulls another trick out of her hat. She immediately feints with the saber, and her opponent shifts to block.

At that point in time, if he had been facing a human pilot, even a Coordinator, he could have recovered and blocked the real attack from the anti-shipping sword. However, he faced a semi-sentient computer with a rather devious pilot who was, for the first time, accessing her battle computer's pre-programmed combat routines. Even if he had blocked the first strike there were half a dozen rapid-fire attacks behind it. But he didn't. The thrust from the anti-shipping sword was too sudden, and too unexpected after all the slashes she had been using against him.

The tip of the blade enters just below where the navel would be on a human. It exits just under the left elbow and also takes off most of the left arm. The GINN detonates almost immediately. Mir grins and goes back to work.

XXXXX

Murrue smiles in relief as the enemy forces finally break. Only three GINNs and the Aegis remain, but Murrue isn't content to just let them go. "Alright, signal the return, our suits have to be running low on power by now." She waits until the command is sent. "Now, target all of our weapons on the Aegis and fire," she says calmly, "I will not allow them to use that suit against us again," she says to the suddenly silent bridge. Mwu types for a few moments.

"Firing . . . now," he says as both Gottfrieds, both Valiants, all two dozen missile tubes, and all sixteen Helldart cells open up on one target. The Aegis has only a split second to react, but Athrun uses it well. He switches to mobile armor mode and jets sideways, knowing that he can take anything short of the Gottfrieds. He winces as one of the rounds from the Valiants shears off the bottom half of a GINN. Athrun grimaces and yells in almost blind rage, "No more!"

He triggers the Scylla cannon.

The crimson bolt of energy flies straight and true. One Helldart and two Wombat missiles survive the shot. The two surviving GINNs take care of the three remaining missiles with ease.

However, the missiles on the crippled GINN chose that moment to misfire. The first flew wild, missing everything. The second, however, hit the support shaft dead on.

Both David and Miriallia had managed to make it back to the Archangel before the missile hit. Kira, however, was farther out due to his battle with the particularly skilled GINN pilot. He didn't make it back. In the confusion as the colony was coming apart, the Strike and the Aegis came into fairly close proximity.

Athrun, still angry triggers his radio, "Kira Yamato? It is you isn't it Kira?"

Kira freezes at the sound of his best friend's voice. "Athrun? Athrun Zala?"

"What is this? Why are you here?" Kira demands.

"You should talk! What are you doing in that thing?" Athrun yells back.

Before Kira can answer, David comes over his radio. "_Kira, get the hell out of there! The colony's coming apart around us!_" However, his warning is much too late. The vacuum of space pulls him out through a large hole in the side. Athrun, keeping pace with the two survivors of the battle returns to his ship at their best speed, towing the third, badly damaged survivor.

XXXXX

Onboard the Vesalius, the lead Nazca class ship Raul Le Creuset frowns as Heliopolis comes apart. _These two new units could ruin everything, _Le Creuset thinks, _I will have to be very careful about how I handle this. At least this will make one part of my job easier. _A cold smile breaks briefly across his face at the thought.

XXXXX

Wow. This is officially the longest it has ever taken me to write a chapter. Of course this is also the longest chapter I've ever written, so they kinda balance each other. Tell me what you think! And that's it! I'm goin' back to bed!


	2. A Road Amongst the Stars

It was pointed out to me that I misspelled David's last name in the last chapter. I have since decided that it was a message from my Muse. Henceforth, I decree that David changed the name so as not to reveal his true identity! So shall it be! Can you tell I've been reading wayyyy too much medieval fiction?

I also finally saw the first five episodes in English! Yay me!

Here's the chap, hope you like it!

Chapter II

A Road Amongst the Stars

_Take up the White Man's Burden-_

_In patience to abide,_

_To veil the threat of terror_

_And check the show of pride;_

_By open speech and simple,_

_A hundred times made plain,_

_To seek another's profit_

_And work another's gain._

**Rudyard Kipling**

**The White Man's Burden**

Remains of the Neutral Colony Heliopolis: Lagrange Point Three

_My God! _David stands on the bridge frozen in disbelief. _They blew the hell out of an entire colony to get a chance to destroy this ship and these three mobile suits. _He shakes his head in incredulity. "What a screwed up situation." He says to the room at large.

"It's just gone," La Flaga says, still stunned. "How could something so . . . imposing be so fragile?"

Of everyone on the ship, Mir and Badgiruel are the only ones to retain any real functionality. "I've completed recovery of the GINN" Mir says over the radio. "I'm done for a while guys." She says, weariness readily audible in her voice.

Badgiruel acknowledges the transmission and resumes calling for Kira, "Strike, this is the Archangel, please respond! Kira Yamato, do you read me?"

It takes a couple of minutes, but Kira finally responds. "_This is Kira, I'm still here,_" everyone on the bridge heaves a sigh of relief when the tired, over-stressed voice comes over the radio.

"Are you alright?" Natarle asks.

"_Yes,_"

"Do you have our position?"

"_Yes,_"

"Then return if you're able,"

"_On my way,_"

_Monosyllabic answers, _David considers, _if that's all that's wrong with him, I'll be amazed. _David shakes himself mentally. _Here I am standing around feeling sorry for myself when there are things to be done. _"Alright guys, we have lots of stuff to do, and not lot of time to do it in." David says, trying to breathe some life back into the crew.

He apparently succeeds. The Captain shakes her head, "You're right David; we can't afford to indulge our sorrow just yet,"

David nods in agreement. "I'm going to go check on my Gundam, be there when Kira gets back, ya know." Murrue nods before David turns and leaves the bridge. "By the way Hawk, nice shooting out there!" He yells back just as the doors closes.

After he leaves, Mwu looks up toward the Captain's chair, "So . . . do you think that they'll be back?"

Murrue considers for a moment. "Yes, I'm almost certain of it. You probably know more about Rau Le Creuset, but I really don't see them letting us get back to Earth Alliance controlled space with three G-weapons, the Hawk of Endymion with the last Zero, and a captured GINN aboard. The only thing I can think of that would keep them from it, is if they don't have the forces to accomplish it, which they do, courtesy of our four Gs, or if they ran out of supplies, or were called home by the political authorities."

"And you know as well as I do that neither of the latter two are likely," Mwu says with a nod.

Murrue bobs her own head in agreement. "Yes. Any sign of ZAFT ships Mr. Tonomura?" the Captain asks.

"No Ma'am, there's just too many heat sources in the debris. We couldn't find a supernova outside half a dozen kilometers in this mess." The sensor tech replies.

"Of course, they'll also have the same problem," La Flaga muses. "Alright, we've got the Strike and the other two Gs, one wrecked Zero, and a GINN missing a left arm, half a cockpit, and a pilot. Could we get away if we just hit the engines? From what I've been led to believe, this is a pretty fast ship."

The Captain shakes her head. "ZAFT's Nazca class was designed for speed. Why do you think it only carries six GINNs when it's larger than a Laurasia? A lot of its mass is in extra thrusters and more power. If it was just a Laurasia or two, I'd say make a run for it, but with two Nazcas as well?" Murrue says with an unenthusiastic expression on her face.

"We could always surrender," Mwu says with a shrug. When everyone in the compartment stops and stares at him he raises his hands. "Hey, we're raising options here, and surrendering is one, however unlikely such a thing would be."

Before Murrue can respond to that particular statement, Natarle interrupts the impromptu brainstorming session. "You're what! Who gave you authorization!"

"What's the problem?" Captain Ramius queries.

"The Strike is returning, but it's carrying a lifeboat from the colony," Badgiruel reports.

"What's the problem?" La Flaga inquires, "This may not be our mess, but we do have a responsibility to help clean it up."

"This is a top-secret ship!" Badgiruel almost yells before adding a belated "Sir. With respect, we cannot just go around picking up refugees when we're trying to escape."

"Well, Ensign, I disagree. We may not have time to stick around and rescue survivors, but we are obligated to bring in any we do happen to find." Mwu says quellingly. "Of course, it's not my ship," he states as he looks at one Captain Murrue Ramius.

Ramius doesn't take long to make up her mind, "I'll allow it."

"Captain-" Badgiruel begins, but Murrue cuts her off.

"We don't have time to waste on these little things. We can't leave until we recover the Strike, and we cannot, in good conscious, leave noncombatants out there in a damaged shelter," she says, looking at a damage estimate of the escape pod. "Without us, all the people inside will be learning to breathe vacuum in a few hours,"

The Ensign sketches a quick salute, her expression strictly controlled, "Yes Ma'am! It will be done," she says as she turns back to her console.

Murrue leans back in her command chair. "That still leaves us with the problem of finding a way to get out of here safely," she says, thinking aloud.

Mwu frowns. "You're right, heading for the Lunar Headquarters as we are would be suicidal, but I don't see another option," the lieutenant responds.

Ensign Badgiruel, however, has an idea. "Captain, I recommend that we select Artemis as our destination," she says respectfully.

"Artemis . . ." Murrue says, mulling the idea over.

Mwu is somewhat less familiar with the situation, "That's a Eurasian military satellite, right? The one with the Umbrella shield?"

Ensign Badgiruel nods before hitting several buttons on one of the command chair's control panels. The main view screen reconfigures itself into a spatial navigation chart. "Given our current location, it's the most easily accessible allied outpost."

"But this ship and the G-weapons both lack an IFF signal that would be recognized by our allies, right? Besides, Eurasia isn't exactly in the Atlantic Federation's inner councils," Murrue questions the Ensign.

"I'm certainly aware that this ship and the Gs are supposed to be secrets of the Federation, but if we set a course for Ptolemaeus Crater, we would have to encounter some resistance along the way. In addition, because we were forced to depart in something of a hurry, we don't have much in the way of consumables. We've got spare parts coming out our ears, but we have little food and less water."

"I realize that," Murrue says, a thoughtful frown on her face.

"It this sort of situation, even Eurasia should have a little sympathy for us. And as it stands, the most practical course of action would be to avoid confrontations if possible. Their Gs outnumber ours, and they have four ships to our one."

"So," La Flaga, who had been content to remain silent up to this point, interjects, "we re-supply at Artemis and try to contact the Lunar Base from there?"

Murrue nods. "A good idea Ensign. Artemis does seem to be our only option at this point."

Mwu raises his hand, "That still leaves how we get away from those four ships out there. I doubt that we should just leave that to chance."

Murrue nods again, "A telling point Lieutenant. I'm willing to entertain suggestions."

La Flaga rubs his chin with its beginnings of a blond beard after a full day and a half without time for a shave. "This ship is equipped with decoys is it not?"

XXXXX

David floated/walked down the corridors of the new assault carrier with the ease of someone who had spent considerable time in null-gee environments, expertly rebounding off of the walls to change his trajectory on his way to the hanger. This experience was probably a good thing, as he really wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings. He was, instead, thinking about the battle. Just about everyone was, in truth, but David had another reason. _Azrael's sword is drawn again, but this time he strikes against his former masters. Yet how could I ignore what I saw? _David enters the hanger, his thoughts still focused on what his course of action should be. However, knowing the dangers of walking around heavy machinery without a clear head, he forces himself to focus. The first thing that he notices is the mechanics crawling all over the GINN that he had disabled in the last battle. _Good, Mir didn't do any more damage to it when she brought it in, _David thinks, _Of course, what I did to it was plenty. _He looks at the gash in the mobile suit's front armor and grimaces at the little drops of red floating through the air around it.

There's a bit of commotion around Mir's unit as he walks past. Nothing serious, so David really doesn't pay it any mind. He's seen the type before. Miriallia will run herself until she drops, then get back up and run again until she knows whether or not her family survived Heliopolis. She certainly won't want to talk about it yet.

Kira, however, is a different story. He simply isn't put together to be able to kill people and not worry about it later. The one-word answers are not a good sign, and David is concerned about how he'll deal with the guilt. _One of three responses: He'll break after the first few fights, he'll divide his personality in an attempt to cope with the stress then either break or reintegrate later, or he'll accept that sometimes there really is no other choice in war. My job is to see that he chooses number three. _With that in mind, David waits at the Strike's docking slip for Kira to return.

He didn't have to wait long, but when Kira did enter the hanger, he wasn't alone. The Strike entered carrying one of Heliopolis's escape pods.

_That was unexpected. _David kicks off and moves above the pod as Kira opens the hatch on the Gundam and thrusts out into the micro gravity of the hanger. Both of their eyes widen as they see the first person to exit the pod. _Lovely, one Flay Allister_(A/N another fansub spelling. I just sorta like them)_. God, how that twit annoys me! _was the first thought to cross his mind. Then he notices Kira's smile and his eyes squint in concentration. _I'll put up with the annoyance if she can get him to smile after the last few hours. _Suddenly, Kira's robotic pet Torri takes off from where it had perched near Kira, apparently recognizing Flay as a friend, or at least someone that it knew. Kira immediately took off after it.

On the ground, Flay looked up and spotted the three of them. "Hey, I know you, you're Sai's friends, right?" she called as she pushed off the deck and collided with Kira in midair. _Note to self, avoid Flay until she figures out how to move in zero gravity without killing people._

Kira looks somewhat startled. "Flay Allister? Is it really you?"

Flay looks up at Kira, the fright that she had been holding back beginning to break through the shock of rescue. "Please tell me what's going on! What in the world happened?" She asks, rapid-fire.

"Quite a bit, Flay. Little of it good, unfortunately," David says from where he drifts a few feet away.

Flay glances at him with a slight frown, "Daniel, no it's David right?" she asks.

David plasters fake grin number three across his features. "Got it in two! Not bad for someone you only met once."

Flay doesn't seem terribly reassured. "This is a ZAFT ship, right? What's going to happen to us, and for that matter what are you two doing here?" she is in near-hysterics by the end.

"This isn't a ZAFT ship," Kira says calmingly. "It's an Earth Forces vessel,"

"You're lying! There are mobile suits in here!" she says, still afraid.

"The Strike belongs to the Earth Forces," Kira explains, pointing out the mobile suit that he has just exited.

"Yeah, and that GINN there was captured in the last battle; see that gash in the front armor?"

Flay is starting to come out of it when all three of them hear a yell, "David! Kira! You are not going to believe this!"

XXXXX

Mir really wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep for a month. Lacking that, a shower and some food would do. Mir quickly shut down the operating system and hit the hatch controls. The mechanics were waiting.

Murdoch was the first to speak. "Hey, could you stick around for a moment?"

Mir blinks, confused. "Why? I don't know anything about working on mobile suits,"

"We're hoping that with you here we can actually get something done!" Murdoch says before pointing at her machine. "That thing can be pretty stubborn,"

Mir nods and kicks off, slowly, for the back wall of the docking slip.

The mechanics immediately swarm all over Mir's unit checking for any damage to it. Or at least trying to. Whenever they try to examine anything other than the surface, the MS immediately locks down the entry point.

"I see your problem," Mir says sympathetically. She pushes off the wall and heads back toward the cockpit. Once inside, she boots up the operating system to look for a reason for the suit to be misbehaving. "Alright what's going on here?" she asks herself aloud.

She wasn't expecting an answer. "_Situation report: docked inside Assault Carrier Archangel, error. IFF/incident conflict. Error. Unable to complete sitrep._" The computer answers in a light soprano.

Mir's mouth drops open, and it takes her several seconds to come up with an intelligent response. "Um, what kind of error?" she asks cautiously.

"_IFF/incident conflict,_" the computer answered concisely.

"Alright," Mir inquires, "What is an IFF/incident conflict?"

"_Error number three-eight-five-seven-alpha. IFF/incident conflict definition: divergence of Identify Friend or Foe transponder information and observed data._" The computer responded.

Mir took a moment to translate the statement into common English before replying. "Okay. Could you take that last statement and explain to me why the previous statement fits the mold for that error?"

For several moments, the computer does not respond. Finally, "_Processing inquiry. Data retrieval complete. Attention to secondary view screen,_" What Mir sees there surprises her. It's a video replay of her confrontation with the Captain. "_Your actions were hostile toward the OMNI Enforcer officer. Does this not mean she is your enemy?_" The soprano asks in digital confusion.

Mir takes a deep breath. "I was responding to an unknown situation. Besides, I'm on her ship, and I'm not occupying a cell in the brig. They aren't enemies; in fact, they're probably our only ticket out of here, so please don't interfere with the mechanics," Mir explains.

There's a short pause, "_Orders acknowledged,_" The computer's light soprano declares. "_Deactivating anti-tampering protocols. Initiating maintenance cycle procedures._" The AI says calmly as a series of clunks reverberate through the mobile suit's frame. "_Deactivating digital interface safeguards. Initiating data decompression. Stormcrow, all security systems deactivated,_" it finishes.

Mir blinks. _Oh. My. God. _Mir thought absolutely shocked, _I have just been having an intelligent conversation with a computer. _She was a technology student; she knew what that most likely indicated. _A self-aware computer? Did Orb really manage to build such a thing? _"Computer, what should I call you?" Mir asks suddenly.

It is perhaps a testament to its surprise that the Stormcrow's AI takes several seconds to respond. "_I do not have a name._"

Oh yeah, definitely self-aware. My God, a true AI! Digital sentience! "Your creators didn't call you anything?" Mir asks trying to keep her runaway train of thought under control. 

"_No. Is there an error?_" The battlecomp asks.

"No. They probably hadn't settled on one yet, after all names are important," Mir says with a sharp nod while adding mentally _Or they didn't realize precisely what they'd created._

However, her reverie is interrupted by Murdoch, "Hey kid! Great job!" He yells from the open hatch. "Maybe we can actually get something done now!" He kicks off the top part of the hatch and heads for the lower part of the Stormcrow.

Mir climbs out of the Stormcrow's cockpit and looks down. She observes the mechanics for a few moments before sticking her head back inside the Gundam. "I'll be back, I've got a couple of errands to run."

"_Acknowledged,_" is the self-aware computer's only response.

Mir kicked off the bottom of the hatch and then rebounded off of the deck-head and onto the deck near- _An escape pod? _Mir blinked in surprise, she had been so wrapped up in her conversation with the AI she hadn't even noticed the Strike's return. She watches for a few moments until the last of the people aboard join the others on or in the air near the deck of the Archangel's hanger.

No one she knows. _Not like there was much chance of it anyway, _she thinks before she begins to search for David or Kira. She quickly kicks off the floor towards them and forces a smile onto her face and into her voice. "David! Kira! You are not going to believe this!"

Kira turns and tries to avoid the incipient collision. David, however, reaches out and cushions her impact. All three of them end up on a support post as Flay still drifts slowly towards them. Mir no longer needs to pretend excitement. "The Stormcrow's computer is a self-aware AI!"

David and Kira both widen their eyes in shock. "A what?" they question/exclaim simultaneously. Then David blinks, "And Stormcrow? What kinda name is that for a Gundam?"

Mir frowns, "Hey! I think it's a good name! And you're missing the point! Digital sentience! A computer capable of independent thought!" At this point Mir finally notices Flay and does a double take. "Flay? Were you on that escape pod?"

Flay by this time is totally confused. "What's going on?" She wails almost mournfully. The other three students resist the urge to laugh at the display. David is the first one to lose it with Miriallia soon following. A few moments later Kira is laughing aloud as well while Flay, realizing just how ridiculous she sounded joins in soon after. And if their laughter has an edge of hysteria to it, no one complains. Not after everything that had happened.

XXXXX

After their laughter died down, David and Mir had bid goodbye to their friends for the moment, letting Kira get Flay settled in, and headed for the bridge. Lieutenant La Flaga was somewhat surprised when they asked to speak with them. However, seeing as how they had just finished executing their escape plan and the decoy was on its way to Lunar Headquarters radiating thermal energy that a blind man couldn't have missed, there wasn't much going on at that moment. The Lieutenant let Mir and David onto the bridge and called the Captain and the Ensign over.

"What's this about?" Natarle asks quickly but not sharply.

David takes the lead. "We feel that it would be advantageous, in light of the current situation, if we debriefed you about our two units," David responds. "Permission to begin?"

Murrue motions to the side, and they cluster around the planning board on the right side of the bridge behind the command chair. "First of all, it's important that you know that neither of our units is complete." At the astonished looks on the three officer's faces David smiles. "I know, it's hard to believe that they're capable of so much destruction in an incomplete format. First, my unit." He says as he types a couple of commands into the keypad.

"The GAT-X106 Devastator. It was designed by Orb to be capable of defeating the Buster, Blitz, or Duel in single combat. You've already seen some of the stuff on the Heavy Arms pack, so I'll skip it for now; you can look at it later if you want. However, I'd like to call your attention to this section here," he says as he highlights an area of text. "According to this, there were supposed to be an additional three Heavy Arms packs constructed, but they hadn't been completed when we left. Also, as if the accessory packs didn't give it away, Devastator was designed to be much like the Strike, but with one significant alteration. It was supposed to be possible to mix and match different parts from different packs as special situations arose. As with the other five Gundams, the X106 had very little computer support, but I've taken care of that problem." David nods and indicates Miriallia as the next speaker.

Mir takes center stage somewhat nervously. "My unit is the GAT-X209 Stormcrow Gundam." She says with a quelling glare at David who has begun to smile slightly. "Despite certain detractors, I think it's a fine name, probably chosen because crows and ravens are traditionally harbinger's of death or battle. As the series number suggests, the machine is more closely related to the Blitz than the other five suits. It does not possess Mirage Colloid, but was designed around a system called the EMF Jammer, short for Electro-Magnetic Fluctuation Jammer. This system was supposed to provide a reliable way to hide from laser, thermal, and radar detection while, at the same time, modulating the color of the PS armor to keep it from being detected visually." At the surprised looks from the others Mir smiles. "Did I forget to mention that you could run the PSA and the EMF Jammer at the same time?" She smiles, before frowning. "Or you would be able to, if they'd managed to finish building the thing. In any case, the Stormcrow was untended to be able to defeat either the Strike or the Aegis in single combat. As such it is a melee specialized unit, and its only armament useful at any range is the beam rifle. This weakness was supposed to be compensated for by the nonexistent jamming system and by the Stormcrow's most notable feature." She takes a deep breath before she continues. "That being a sentient, self-aware battle computer programmed with dozens of combat routines and gifted with the ability to learn from battles as much as its pilot."

La Flaga notices that the effect of surprise appears to be lessening. If he'd been told half an hour ago that one of the mobile suits in his hanger was self-aware, he'd have been floored. After these other revelations, he is merely surprised and intrigued.

Murrue manages to speak first. "Thank you for the debrief. If you'd stay here for a bit, we've got quite a bit to discuss."

XXXXX

After Mir and David took off, Kira led Flay quickly to the commissary in the hope that seeing Sai, Tolle, and Kuzzey in good health would alleviate some of her tension. When they arrive, Sai shoots to his feet and the other two look more than mildly surprised while Flay seems to shoot across the room to her fiancé. Immediately after their reunion, Kira and the others return to their temporary quarters.

"I wish they'd let us know where the ship's headed," Kuzzey says from his bunk as the group is lounging around.

"We changed course, didn't we? There could still be ZAFT around," Sai suggests from his spot on the bunk beside Flay.

"They're intent on getting this ship and that mobile suit," Tolle says. "So I'll bet you that they're still hunting us down."

"They're still doing what!" Flay asks, "You mean we're less safe now that we're on board?"

Kira winces before remembering something the Captain had said. "Unless you've discovered how to breathe vacuum, you're much better off onboard. The life support systems on that pod were badly damaged," he points out and Tolle nods.

Flay blinks and considers for a moment before shuddering a bit and falling silent.

Kira doesn't really pay attention to the next part of his friend's conversation. He's only jolted out of his daydream when the Hawk of Endymion calls his name from the doorway.

"Yes? What is it?" Kira asks in response.

"Mr. Murdoch is pretty upset, you know. We don't have enough people, so you're going to have to help maintain your machine." Mwu says, a fatigued expression on his face.

"My machine? Wait, what do you mean, 'My machine?'" he demands, already working himself into a fury over the fairness, or lack thereof, of the universe.

"That's just the way the cards have fallen," La Flaga responds. "The fact is, you're the only person we have who can pilot it." He shrugs. "It can't be helped, I suppose."

"Sure, I piloted the thing twice, but only because I didn't have a choice! I don't want people saying that it makes me a soldier or something! "

"So when ZAFT catches up to us, and the fighting starts again, will those be your last words?" La Flaga asks somewhat sardonically, his patience wearing thin. Kira flinches at the words before Mwu continues, "At the moment, you are one of only four people who can protect this ship."

"But I don't think it's-" Kira begins before the Lieutenant interrupts him.

"Kira," he interjects gently, "you have the power to make a difference. Why not put it to good use? We have precious little time, but take some of it and think things over."

As Mwu begins to walk away, Sai inquires, "Sir? May I ask where this ship is heading?"

"A Eurasian military base. We'll be lucky if they let us in." the Hawk says, irony readily apparent in his voice before he continues on his way.

Kira frowns and watches him walk away for a moment, "This isn't . . . damn it!" he says as he takes off down the corridor.

Flay looks on in confusion, "What was all that about?" she asks Sai. "So that Kira guy, he was in-"

"You heard about how the life boat that you were on was carried in by a mobile suit, right?" Sai asks. "My friend Kira was the one piloting it," he explains.

"What? He's the one?" Flay inquires, confused. "But why would someone as young as him be in a mobile suit?"

"Because he's a Coordinator," Kuzzey says matter-of-factly.

"Kuzzey!" Tolle exclaims, sounding exasperated.

"Kira may be a Coordinator, but he isn't with ZAFT," Sai explains to his confused fiancé.

"Yeah, he's still one of us, a cherished friend," Miriallia says as she drifts into the room. "Sorry I overheard the end of that," she declares with a smile.

"I see," Flay says. "So that explains what he was doing in that place with the mobile suits, but what about you and David?" she questions her friend.

"Well," Mir says with a smile, "that's because I'm the pilot of the Stormcrow Gundam and David pilots the Devastator."

Flay's eyes nearly pop out of her head. "Don't tell me you're a Coordinator too!" Flay says, surprised yet again.

Mir laughs out loud, "I'm not, but Dave is. Before you ask, the Stormcrow has a really advanced computer to help me keep up." The group of friends spends the next couple of hours listening to Mir describe the two battles she'd been in with ZAFT.

XXXXX

David sees Kira enter the hanger and is tempted to go over and greet him, but something about his expression tells David to forbear. Kira is still obviously deep in thought when Dave finally lands behind him on the walkway in front of the Strike. "A penny for your thoughts?" Dave offers as Kira starts. For a moment, David feels sure that Kira won't answer.

"Just because I know how to fly a mobile suit doesn't mean I'm a soldier, that I can go into battle," he says quietly and almost sorrowfully.

"Of course not," David agrees amiably. Kira looks at him in surprise. "What, were you expecting me to argue with you? No Kira, just because you know how to kill doesn't make you a soldier." David says deliberately cold, trying a tactic that had worked on him when he was coping with his first combats. "There are murderers all over the earth and her colonies. They aren't soldiers," David declares while he watches Kira flinch away from the description. "And then of course there are people like you Kira. You and Miriallia have been drawn into this war literally over night. You haven't a clue as to how to deal, and not even your training as a soldier to fall back on, because you weren't trained." Kira looks at him with confusion. "Look Yamato, what are you fighting for? The thrill of the chase? The enjoyment you get from watching your enemies ground beneath your heel? Or are you fighting for your friends? For that little girl that came off the escape pod? They can't fight for themselves. They were brought into this war against their will, the same way as you. I think you already know the answer. It doesn't make things easy, but it'll help." David says as he pushes off the walkway toward the Devastator, leaving Kira with fewer, and yet more questions.

XXXXX

"Status change!" Tonomura says quickly from his position at the sensor console. "Heat source consistent with a Nazca class vessel detected! Distance, two hundred kilometers to port! It's beside us and it's heading in the same direction."

"Did they figure it out?" Murrue asks from the command chair.

"If Le Creuset suspected we were going to Artemis, he had the ships to cover it as a possibility," La Flaga says.

"The Nazca is pulling ahead of us!" Tonomura reports suddenly.

"So they're gonna cut us off at the pass?" Mwu asks rhetorically.

"Are there any other ships about?" Ensign Badgiruel asks the sensor NCO.

After examining his panel for a moment he responds, "Heat source consistent with a Laurasia class Frigate three hundred kilometers to stern!"

"The Laurasia class can eventually overtake us, but if we try to outrun it, we'll have the Nazca coming down our throats," the Lieutenant summarizes. "Bring me up a space map, and the data on the two vessels."

"Do you have a plan?" The Ensign asks.

"I'm getting ready to think about it," the Hawk responds with something of a vicious grin on his face.

XXXXX

David hears the message from his bunk in the student's quarters. Mir hears it with her friends in the commissary. Kira hears it from his place in the hanger.

"_Shillouete detected. Enemy unit. All crewmen to level one Battlestations!_" a computerized voice announced with inhuman calm over the Archangel's speakers.

Mir immediately takes off for the hanger as does David before a crewman's voice sounds over the speakers, "_Mobile Suit pilots report to the Ready Room!_" Both immediately change course as Kira kicks off the Strike and heads for the exit.

Meanwhile in the commissary, the four remaining students are watching the door from which Miriallia has just left. Sai speaks up first, "I hope everything will be okay. If they can't protect us, our future's looking grim."

"Listen guys," Tolle says, "we're always waiting for the others to go out there and protect us. If we have the ability to make a difference, why don't we use it? We may not be able to pilot mobile suits, but we know how short-handed the crew is, maybe we can help with that!"

Sai, Kuzzey, and Flay all nod in agreement.

XXXXX

Mir and David meet up with Lieutenant La Flaga in the hall outside of the ready room. "You guys ready?" The veteran mobile armor pilot asks.

"Yeah sure, you betcha," David replies, a small smile on his lips.

La Flaga nods and opens the door. They all float inside as Kira turns around. "Well, if that uniform's any indication, I'd say you've decided to help out." Mwu indicates Kira's pilot suit. "David, there should be a suit that'll fit you in that locker there, you look about the same size as the guy we had to pilot the Blitz. Miriallia, there's a women's storage unit through that door. There should be a suit in your size there, we'll have to get them fitted for you three later though, so try to make do."

Less than five minutes later Mir rejoins the three males in a slightly-too-small pilot suit, one that has Kira staring, before blushing and quickly looking away. Luckily, Mir doesn't notice as they all head for the hanger.

They make quite an impressive sight moving through the hallways, Mwu in his purple flight suit with the trademark feathers of the Hawk of Endymion in the lead with Kira and David in blue and Miriallia in pink following behind, their helmets under their arms.

"So, what's the plan?" David asks after a few moments.

"I'll launch in my Zero under cover of the Archangel's assault cannons and head for the Nazca ahead of us under EmCon, that's emission control, while Kira takes care of whatever comes at us from the front, and you and Mir cover us from behind. Hopefully, if I can damage the Nazca, they'll have to recall their units."

"A good idea, under the circumstances," Dave nods. _Especially considering that two of our pilots are complete novices. They've been lucky so far, but we can't afford to push it._

This thought leads them into the hanger, and all four of them head for their respective units. Once they're all inside, the lieutenant contacts all of them on their radios. "No matter what, think only of protecting yourselves and this ship," Kira nods in affirmation.

Kira and Mir are both starting to get a case of the nerves. They'd fought before, but only against mass-produced units, not state of the art Gundams. David, though, is quite the contrast. He doesn't appear notably disturbed, much like Lieutenant La Flaga.

A few moments later, the Strike and the Zero are connected to the port and starboard catapults respectively, and the Archangel's remotes begin to attach the Aile Striker pack. David and Mir run over a few last minute things on their units while they wait. "By the way, Murdoch, thanks for reattaching the Heavy Arms pack! This oughtta give em a surprise!"

"Yeah, well, good luck kid!" Murdoch says as he clears out of the immediate area.

The last Zero launches from the starboard catapult and the remotes grab the Stormcrow and begin to cart it to the launch area as the catapult resets. _Just about now. _David thinks, remembering the plan. Not thirty seconds later, a reverberation can be felt through the hull as the Archangel fires its positron cannons at the Nazca class and immediately hits its engines.

_Alright, people, let's be about it._

XXXXX

"Captain, the Nazca has launched a mobile suit. Just the one!"

"Captain?" Natarle asks as she inclines an eyebrow.

"Go ahead, by all means," Murrue responds.

"Have Kira launch in the Strike," Natarle orders Sai who has taken charge of mobile weapon operations. "We'll hold the other two in reserve for the moment." Sai nods before speaking into his headset.

XXXXX

"_Kira?_" a familiar voice says as an equally familiar face pops up on his overhead display.

"Sai? What are you doing there?" Kira asks.

"_Hey, don't ask so surprised. We decided that you aren't the only one who can make a difference. Anyway, get ready to launch,_" the technology student says with a small grin.

Kira nods. "Kira Yamato. Strike Gundam, heading out!"

XXXXX

Wow! Sorry this chapter took so long. I'd originally planned for it to be about eight or nine pages, and it ended up being nearly twice that.

So how will Mir, Kira, and Dave do in their third battle in their new units? Mir and David may be aces after their first battle, but that was against GINNs. This time all seven Gundams will clash. What will happen then?

Tune in next time . . . and . . . stuff.

Thanks for reading, feel free to flame if you really want to; just review!


	3. The Fallen Ones

Well, guys, sorry it's been so long since I updated, but real life got in the way. I had term papers and finals and just recently I had a crisis at work that had me working 60+ hours a week. Now that both of those are over, hopefully I'll be able to do better than one chapter every five months.

Anywho, this may not be some of my best work; I'm trying to get back in the rhythm of writing after a rather long sabbatical, so be patient. And review! It is, after all, the coin of the realm ;).

XXXXX

Chapter III

The Fallen Ones

_God of our fathers, known of old_ Lord of our far-flung battle line

_Beneath whose awful hand we hold_

_Dominion over palm and pine_

_Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,_

_Lest we forget – lest we forget!_

**Rudyard Kipling**

**Recessional **

Assault Ship _Archangel: En route _to Eurasian Federation Military Satellite _Artemis_

The bridge of the Archangel was a scene of barely controlled chaos as crewmen still unfamiliar with their tasks and newbies just being slotted into their positions fought, undermanned, to do a job that would have stretched the abilities and resources of a fleet carrier with a veteran crew. Captain Murrue Ramius watches her bridge crew with a careful eye as they prepare for battle as best they can given how badly undermanned they are. _Good thing those four are willing to help out! _When the four teenagers from Heliopolis had volunteered to help the crew out, it had been an undisguised blessing. She had immediately put Kuzzey on fleet communications with the redhead –Fray? Flay? - on CIC. The blond Sai that had led the others was quickly slotted into parasite operations while Tolle took over plotting. That would help her manpower problems a bit, though they were still short over fifty percent of her assigned crew compliment. With surprising speed, all things considered, the crew is at battle stations and ready to carry out her orders.

_I just hope to God that Lt. La Flaga knows what the hell he's doing._

"Ma'am," Ensign Badgiruel speaks up, "Permission to launch the Lieutenant's Zero?"

Captain Ramius shakes off her other concerns and focuses solely on the upcoming battle. "Permission granted. Target the Nazca Class ship dead ahead and fire the assault cannons. Let's give the Hawk some cover." Moments later the twin Positron Cannons discharge streams of anti-electrons moving at a noticeable fraction of the speed of light. The range is too long for even a glancing blow against the enemy, but the massive thermal signal and the attention that being shot at by anti-matter weapons creates serves to cloak the launch of the Moebius from observing eyes. They continue to scan for a moment just to make certain that their ruse has gone undetected.

The corners of Murrue's mouth curve upwards slightly and she begins issuing orders, "I want engines to maximum thrust. When the Zero makes its attack run, I want to be in position to capitalize on it. Our primary objective may be to escape this ambush, but that doesn't mean we can't take advantage of our enemies' misfortune." Moments later the Archangel's mighty engines jumped to life and began closing the range.

"Captain, the Nazca has launched a mobile suit. Just the one!"

"Captain?" Natarle asks as she inclines an eyebrow.

"Go ahead, by all means," Murrue responds.

"Have Kira launch in the Strike," Natarle orders Sai. "We'll hold the other two in reserve for the moment." Sai nods and begins to speak into his headset. Murrue turns back forward and forces her concern for Kira and Mwu out of her mind and prepares to fight her ship

XXXXX

Mir is beginning to get a serious case of the pre-battle jitters. The fact that she was going to be going up against veteran pilots possibly flying incredibly advanced suits was not making the wait easier. She glances at her displays yet again and sees that David's Devastator is just connecting to the starboard catapult. In an attempt to distract herself from her nervousness, she goes back over what she and David had talked about earlier.

Beam weapons were powerful, but they were more short-ranged than projectile weapons or missiles. The tradeoff for their power and the fact that only very good predictors could generate a miss given that firing and arrival at target were effectively instantaneous over their effective range was just that. Effective range. At anything other than point-blank range, the beam has lost enough power that they couldn't impart the necessary energy to deal damage. Gravitic focusing lenses had expanded the range of laser weapons, especially shipboard ones that could afford the mass expenditure for more effective lensing equipment; however, even gravitic lensed beam weapons still had to play by Newton's rules and diffraction was a given. However, the most important thought in Miriallia's mind was that the massive kinetic energy imparted by beam weapons made them capable of penetrating even a Gundam's phase shift armor with only a shot or two, so the Stormcrow's predictors would be working overtime at evading fire from the enemy. Mir was in the process of working herself back into a state of nervous terror when her secondary view screen came to life with David's image.

"Hey Mir! Ready to go?" he asks affably. Miriallia's immediate reaction is jealousy that he seems so calm about this when she's more than halfway to terrified; however, before she can blow up at him, his flip manner evaporates. "Don't worry about it Mir. You've just had your first encounter with the military's venerable 'hurry up and wait' approach. War is ninety-seven percent boredom, two percent frantic preparation, and one percent sheer howling terror. Up 'till now, we've been too busy to be scared."

"How can you be so calm about this?" she asks in a small, concerned voice, "Aren't you worried at all?"

David chuckles a bit at that. "Mir, I'm at least halfway to terrified right now. I'm using a brand new machine that I haven't learned yet against veteran pilots that are just as fast as I am," _Plus I'm out of condition and badly out of practice. I haven't seen a shot fired in anger in months and I have mostly rookies who've never Seen the Elephant on my side. _went unspoken. Focusing back on the conversation he continues, "I'm just better at hiding it than you are. Besides we-" any further comment was cut off as Sai's visage appeared on their main view screens.

XXXXX

"Three heat sources approaching from stern, distance is sixty-seven kilometers and closing. They're mobile suits, Ma'am,"

"Here they come," Murrue says under her breath before continuing. "Launch the Stormcrow and Devastator and prepare for anti-mobile suit combat."

Ensign Badgiruel takes over while Sai gets on the comm., "Load Corinthos in missile tubes thirteen through twenty-four, activate both Valiant linear cannons and input target data. Hurry!"

"Machines I.D.ed . . . but these are X numbers! The Duel, Buster, and Blitz!" Tonamura says from his seat in CIC.

"All of the stolen G-weapons are being sent to engage us? How the hell did Le Creuset know where we'd go?" Murrue thinks aloud. "It doesn't matter." She says more firmly. "We can't let them destroy this ship. Task Helldarts to anti-mobile suit fire; let's give them other things to think about. Also activate our CIWS, but don't open fire until they're in range. . ."

XXXXX

Sai immediately cuts off any exclamations over his presence by the simple expedient of relaying the captain's order to launch. "You'll have three targets to deal with-" he says before the comm. cuts off suddenly. When it comes back on a moment later Sai is obviously nervous. "We just identified them as the Duel, Buster, and Blitz," He opens his mouth and closes it again a moment later, apparently unable to come up with anything to say. Finally he settles for, "Good luck,"

Mir realizes as she prepares to launch that she should probably be terrified. She and David will be outnumbered two to three by better-trained pilots; however, now that the heat of the moment is on her, she feels remarkably calm. "Miriallia Haww, Stormcrow, launching!"

A moment later the same frequency carries a second message, "David Almafi, Devastator, going out!"

XXXXX

Kira winced as his heads up display tagged the quickly approaching mobile suit as the Aegis. "That Mobile Suit, Athrun?" He asked aloud moments before his radio came to life.

"Is that you, Kira?" his oldest friend demanded, "How could you join the Earth Forces? Why are you with the naturals? Tell me!"

Kira winced at the harsh tone from his oldest and dearest friend before his own anger at the destruction of his home surged to the forefront. "I'm doing what I need to do, Athrun. And I am not a member of the Earth Forces!" he shouted at his friend. Athrun's nascent response was cut off abruptly as Kira rolled over it. "I'm fighting to protect my friends, Athrun, and they're civilians, all of them! What about you? Why are you with ZAFT? Didn't you say that you hated the very idea of war? So why did you attack Heliopolis?"

"That's because the Naturals turned it into a target!" The Cyan-haired Coordinator replied, "They built those weapons there; they violated their neutrality!"

"God damn it Athrun! Didn't you idiots even consider the fact that they could have been built for Orb? What proof did you have that they were for OMNI? Besides, all you had to do was wait until after they left Heliopolis! An ambush along the way would have given you the results without the collateral damage!" In his anger, Kira drew and activated the Strike's beam saber. "I consider you my best friend Athrun, don't make me fight you."

Athrun, meanwhile was taken aback by the anger and hurt in Kira's voice, and, as he considered his friend's words, realized how true they were, but his own commitment to the PLANTs meant that he could not simply console his friend. "Kira, the PLANTs are at _war_. We didn't start it, but we can't afford to just let the Naturals walk all over us! After Junius Seven-" Athrun breaks off, his anger and grief over his mother's death striking close to home after losing so many companions at Heliopolis. "We have to fight! We don't have a choice! That ship and the technology it represents cannot be allowed to reach the Earth Alliance." Athrun nearly yells at Kira as he activates the emitter on the back of the Aegis's right wrist.

"Athrun . . ." Kira begins before his friend cuts him off.

"Why do we have to fight each other?" he asks, "You're a coordinator just like us."

That is precisely the wrong thing to say. "So what? Just because we're coordinators doesn't mean we're better than naturals are! Mir and the Stormcrow are proof enough of that! She's _just _a Natural, but she's every bit as good a pilot as I am!" Kira yells at his friend. "I don't want to hurt you Athrun, but if you want to sink the Archangel, then I don't have any choice." He says, barely audibly with tears in his eyes as he shifts his shield into position.

"I'm sorry Kira," Athrun replies equally quietly, "but I don't have a choice either. The survival of the plants is more important than what I want. If I have to fight you to keep everyone there safe, then I will," he responds as he activates the Aegis's thrusters.

And amongst the cold, uncaring stars two friends go to war.

XXXXX

David's first concern upon exiting the ship was making a u-turn and generating as much delta-V as possible. Sweeping around the flank of the massive assault carrier takes only a few seconds, but by the time Devastator has cleared the blocking mass of the Archangel, the enemy Mobile suits are firmly locked up by his onboard systems. _No way that Mir can handle two of these bad boys. Looks like its time for a little game of two-vee-one. _David being David immediately decides on a proactive stance. The Buster and the Duel are closest to his location on the starboard side of the ship and they're somewhat overconfident in their approach. In fact, to David's trained eye, it looks like the Duel is actually planning on over flying the pair of them and attacking the Archangel directly. _Never going to happen._ David thinks as his hands fly over his controls inputting targeting coordinates and dodging left as the enemy begins, finally, to open fire. After a glance over his programming, David hits the acceptance key, and Devastator opens fire. Both chest Gatlings and the Heavy Arms' Gatling target the Buster and begin spiting beams of coherent light while the shoulder and leg mounted missile pods target the Duel. Two of the larger homing missiles launch from each of the Leg-mounted launchers while ten smaller missiles take flight from each of the shoulder-mounted launchers.

If David could have coaxed the Buster in a little bit closer before he fired, then he might have destroyed it then and there; however, because he had to open fire and catch the Duel as well, the Buster escaped the six second burst with only a pair of scorch marks on the left leg where a pair of beams had struck, but not long enough to do damage at that range. David's second target was less fortunate, or would have been if it didn't have PSA. The Duel's pilot managed to intercept twelve of the smaller missiles with his CIWS and caught six of the other eight on his shield. The other two hit his machine's right shoulder while all four of the larger missiles struck his suit's legs. All of this accomplished absolutely nothing. Except that David had firmly attracted the attention of the Duel's pilot, and that had been the aim all along.

XXXXX

Miriallia was having a hard time. Her mobile suit was optimized for close quarters combat, and it had all sorts of weapons to that effect. And the Blitz's pilot would not let her close with him so that she could use any of them. Every time she tried to cut in close to the mobile suit, it would fire off enough blasts from its beam rifle to force her to interpose her shield, and when she did that it was able to fly just far enough away that she had to start the entire process over again. Mir ground her teeth as she squinted at her target through the targeting computer's scope. She tried to figure out which way the Blitz would dodge next and pulled the trigger, but, as before the agile mobile suit managed to get out of the way. "Damn it!" Miriallia yelled at her viewscreen, "How the hell am I supposed to _hit _this bastard?" Miriallia jumped in surprise when the battle computer's soprano came over the interior speakers.

"Was that a request Ma'am?" the Sentient AI asked in apparent confusion.

Mir blinked and then suddenly jerked the 'Crow to the right as an emerald beam passed close enough to the suit's head to temporarily blind the sensors before responding, "Yes, I suppose it was, Computer. Can you help out at all?"

"Activating heuristic software. Initiating evasion procedures. Initiating polymorphic prediction algorithms. Level three defensive systems override activated." the AI said by way of answer and before it had finished its last sentence, it had taken control of maneuvering and the Stormcrow's shield arm and was making headway towards the Blitz at twice the speed Mir alone had managed.

That, however, was not the only thing that happened. Mir's targeting scope went dead for just a moment, and when it came back up, the cursor was almost half-again as fast in its movements as it had been, and it didn't seem to be fooled by the Blitz's wild maneuvering quite as much. Miriallia realized the advantages immediately. Coordinators could beat naturals so easily because of two reasons. First, their brains were wired more efficiently, they thought much faster than an un-enhanced human, and, by extension, their reflexes and physical responses were proportionately quicker. Second, they were able to multi-task without the overload that was felt by normal minds. They were literally able to focus all of their attention on several things at once. They could watch all of their instruments, while keeping in communication, firing, and dodging without becoming distracted by one particular point. And the 'Crow's AI had just negated that advantage. Her outrageously powerful battle systems were maneuvering and defending the mobile suit, all Miriallia had to do was decide when to shoot or slash with her weapons and a small grin turned up the ends of her lips.

XXXXX

Nicol's eyes tightened at the abrupt increase in the enemy mobile suit's abilities. He'd been running a delaying action before. Waiting until Dearka and Yzak could finish up their enemy and give him an assist while simultaneously draining the other's battery packs. That had just ceased to be a survivable option. _Took that Earth Forces officer long enough to figure it out though, _he admitted to himself, _I'm surprised that he has this much skill. A natural shouldn't be able to pilot a mobile suit nearly as well as this one can. _Nicol considered as he turned his own abilities up a notch. He drifted to the side of his enemy's aim and returned fire with his trio of kinetic energy penetrator missiles followed by the rocket anchor on the left arm of his suit. Either one of the attacks should have forced his opponent out of position where his beam rifle could do some damage before he was able to correct and both together should have been even more effective. Instead Nicol watched in fascination as the black and blue MS's CIWS took out all three incoming missiles with ease and the shield aptly deflected the rocket anchor. _It's official. There is no way in hell that that pilot is a natural. _"Dearka, this is Nicol. Unknown Two's pilot is definitely not a natural. I might need help a little quicker than I thought," he said as he slipped to the side before the enemy fired his beam rifle again and returned fire.

"Understood," Dearka replied, "but we've got troubles of our own over- Shit! What the _fuck_ was that?" Nicol winced. It appeared that their enemy's suits were at least as formidable as their own, and it didn't help that they had only minimal data on the X105 Strike and none at all on the other two. They knew his side's weaknesses and he had very little idea of their own. What's worse, he didn't even truly know what his own machine was capable of and his Cousin David's words rang in his ears. "_Sun Tzu's wisdom still applies. If you know not yourself, then you cannot _ever _be victorious in battle. Knowing your own weaknesses and that of the vessel you pilot is the first step to keeping them from being used against you." _And this time the pressures of the mission had not allowed him to become familiar with this prototype like he was with his GINN. If he wasn't careful he was gonna wind up breathing space shortly, assuming that he was breathing at all.

XXXXX

_Well this is . . . not fun . . . not . . . nope can't come up with a way to describe how truly bad this is. _David considers as he succeeds in avoiding another shot from the Buster's beam rifle. He jukes left and immediately fires his upper thrusters dropping him below a slash from the Duel's beam saber and fires four of his upper missiles into the other suit's chest to force him back out of melee range before opening up with his Gatlings for a short burst. Duel intercepts most of them with its shield and picks up a slight graze on its right shoulder before David is forced to disengage to avoid another emerald blast from the Buster. _This is just not working. _David contemplated with a wince, _Lord, I hate using all of my trump cards so early, but if this keeps up I won't make it to the end of our little delaying action here- _David cuts off the line of thought as he dodges yet another of the seemingly endless beams the Buster sends at him. Again the Duel closes to range and takes a slash at the Devastator's cockpit. This time, David tries something new. Instead of avoiding his enemy's blow, he parries it with his own saber and blasts the Duel's shield with several bolts from this chest-mounted Gatling guns. For just a second, the enemy pilot is off balance, and David takes advantage of it. Instead of backing off in a game of keep away as he had been doing, David uses the massive twelve-meter long weapon on his suit's left arm as a bludgeon and knocks the Duel off to the right and completely off balance. He's about to finish the annoying bastard off when some sixth sense warns him. He barely manages to vacate the area before a blast from the Buster's joined rifles can cut his suit in half.

_And that, _he thinks with a grimace, _was the last of the tricks I've come up with. Trump card time. _David immediately turns back to the quickly recovering Duel and fires off half of his remaining missiles. They may not actually be able to do damage, but it's hard to overcome your reflexes, and, as a ZAFT red, the Duel's pilot's reflexes are screaming that the missiles coming at him are a one-way ticket to Elysium. The fact that his MS's PSA could shrug them off like so many raindrops probably doesn't even enter into his mind.

While the Duel's playing dodge-'em high explosives, David turned his attention to the Buster and raised his suit's left arm. This time, however, instead of firing the five-barreled Gatling at the captured Gundam, he uses the Heavy Arms' pack's other beam weapon.

A 110mm hyper impulse cannon identical to the Agni of the Strike's Launcher pack formed the center of the five-barreled cannon, and the ruby bolt of energy it sends at the Buster very nearly ends that portion of the fight then and there. Fortunately for the ZAFT pilot, David's targeting computer miscalculated. The error was less than a hundredth of a degree, but when your opponent is over three kilometers away and dodging, that is enough for a clean miss. Suddenly, both captured suits were much more focused on defending themselves than attacking. David smiled, _Let's see if I can't encourage them to keep feeling defensive for a little longer. If the Hawk hasn't lost his touch completely, then this action should just about be concluded. _He reflects as he begins unloading more energy at the Duel. _I wonder how many shots a shield can absorb from this thing before it starts to melt._

XXXXX

The bridge of the Archangel wasn't the scene of frantic effort that might have reasonably been expected during the middle of a mobile suit battle where its forces were outnumbered. In fact, there wasn't much going on at all. Everything that could be done had been, and now the crew was just waiting to see if the ship's weapons would be needed.

Well, that and watching in shock and amazement as three G weapons with what they all thought were rookie pilots held off four G's piloted by what could only be ZAFT elites. The fact that Kira in the Strike and the unknown pilot of the Aegis had spent several minutes sizing each other up had caused Natarle some small concern, but then the swordfight had started up, and the Ensign simply attributed it to a delaying tactic on the kid's part. However, impressive as that fight was, it was the skirmish at the rear of the powerful Assault Carrier that had the bridge crew staring wide-eyed.

Miriallia in the Stormcrow was masterful in her combat with the Blitz. Because most of the crew didn't know about the 'Crow's sentient battle computer yet, they were amazed to see that she had actually managed to put the stolen machine almost entirely on the defensive. Even as they watched, her beam saber crashed into the Blitz's shield and her left arm delivered a shield bash, forcing the ZAFT machine back on its metaphorical heels. For a few moments it looked like she'd be able to finish the fight right there, but the sudden intervention of the Buster allowed the Blitz the time it needed to get back out of melee range.

The Buster was attempting to correct his aim for the now wildly dodging Stormcrow when David's unit fired yet another of those god-awful hyper impulse rounds at the captured mobile suit forcing him to abandon his pursuit of the Stormcrow in order to avoid the incoming fire. The Devastator continued its assault on the Duel, pounding away at it with its six-barreled chest Gattlings however, the massive amount of fire it was putting out was quickly becoming a concern to Natarle. From looking over its specs, she remembered that it had secondary batteries stored in the Heavy Arms pack as well as the main battery located in the abdomen of the suit and that the rapid-fire weapons traded power with each individual shot in order to keep the multi-barreled weapons from overheating, but the sort of fire the Devastator was putting out had to be draining his energy levels fast. She just hoped that the Lieutenant's Zero would manage to hit his target in time, otherwise things could get bad for the Archangel and her parasites.

XXXXX

Kira frowned in concentration and his hands flew over the controls as he tried to keep the Strike between the Aegis and the Archangel. It wasn't easy, despite the fact that he was sure Athrun was holding back. Kira, operating by reflex, managed to block a deceptively quick shield strike with his own shield and threw the Strike into reverse in order to avoid a follow-up swing by the Aegis.

"Stop it! Please, put away your sword, Kira!" Athrun said as his face appeared on Kira's monitor. "_We are not enemies._ Am I right?"

"Athrun . . ." Kira began before his friend steamrolled over anything he might have said.

"Damn it, Kira! We don't have to do this!" Athrun yelled as mechanical joints and servos struggled to push past Kira's interposed Beam Saber. "I already lost my mother on Junius Seven, I don't want to lose my best friend too!" the blue-haired coordinator pleaded.

"I can't Athrun," Kira said, tears in his eyes. "There are people on that ship I need to protect. They didn't destroy Junius Seven; they've never hurt ZAFT or the PLANTs. We just dreamed of living in peace until the fighting stopped," Kira said, growing angry again. "I find it very difficult to forgive you for destroying those dreams, Athrun," he concluded with quiet sincerity as Athrun visibly flinched before avoiding yet another swipe of the Strike's saber and blocking a stream of bullets from the suit's CIWS.

They traded blows for several moments, both unwilling to use their rifles and both hoping for a disabling blow. Kira, however, had the advantage of knowing that the other side was working under a time limit and, once he calmed down a little, he was able to hold it together well enough to actually make use of the edge it gave him. He allowed himself to fall back slowly, hoping to give Athrun the impression that he was winning while simultaneously lowering the fevered pitch the fighting had taken. Hoping, despite how angry he still was, that maybe he wouldn't have to risk hurting his oldest friend after all.

XXXXX

Mwu la Flaga's Moebius Zero raced through the void under total EmCon, doing its level best to imitate a hole in space, and so far, the ruse seemed to have been successful. Now, however, was the most critical juncture. He was beginning his final approach, and he noted with some small amount of trepidation that the Nazca's guns were hot. _I really hope those aren't aimed at me. _He couldn't hope to evade weapons like those without going active, but if he went active, then they'd know he was there if they didn't already. _Just gonna have to risk it. _The waiting seemed interminable, but finally he arrived at his step off point. _Still sitting there all fat, dumb, and happy. Point defense and countermeasures aren't online; looks like I got away with it. _Mwu thinks as he abruptly shoves his thrusters to maximum. He gives his targeting systems several moments to lock on and silently applauds the ZAFT captain's effort. Good thing he hadn't been anxious and jumped the gun. This guy might actually have been able to minimize the damage to his ship if he'd had another minute to correct for the Zero's surprising attack.

The Hawk of Endymion wasn't about to give him that minute. The targeting computer settled down and the Lieutenant deployed the last Zero's gunbarrels and opened fire. Though the wired weapons weren't sufficient alone to punch through the massive armor of a Nazca class destroyer, the massive linear cannon did have the required punch. The two blasts that the Lieutenant was able to fire on his short, high-speed run rip a pair of holes into the flank of the ship where pieces of wreckage suggested that the Nazca's power plants would be located. The rapid fire from the four gunbarrels tore into the vulnerable insides of the solid vessel. The Lieutenant saw a powerful explosion as his Zero's piton attached itself to the ZAFT ship and he swung around it and headed back to the Archangel, smiling as he hit a pair of buttons that sent his success message back to the assault carrier and her captain.

XXXXX

Back aboard the Archangel the communications rating twitched in his seat as he received the Hawk's message. "Ma'am! Lieutenant La Flaga reports success! The enemy Nazca appears to have taken reactor and engine damage!"

"Very good," Murrue replies calmly. "Fire the Lohengrin at the enemy's Nazca class vessel! Take them out!"

"Lohengrin one and Lohengrin two, standby!" Natarle commanded from her seat in CIC.

"Message Lieutenant La Flaga to clear out. Also caution the Strike to avoid our ship's line of fire." Murrue ordered as she watched the fighting behind her ship.

Down in CIC Tonamura glanced at his screen and reported, "Positron bank breath chamber at maximum charge. Muzzle choke potential has stabilized. Opening barrels."

"The target is locked in," Ensign Badgiruel reported.

"Fire as you bear," Murrue commanded. Moments later, after the cannon barrels locked into position, a stream of Anti-Electrons erupted from each barrel, moving at cee-fractional velocities towards the ZAFT ship. Half a dozen seconds later the sensors revealed what had happened.

"Nazca class veering away from our ship's course," Tonamura reported, attempting to further refine his data. "Thermal data suggests heavy damage to Port engine pod. It seems like we struck them a glancing blow," the Non-Commissioned Officer left unsaid that there were few things more destructive than even a glancing blow from antimatter.

"Signal our mobile suits to withdraw soonest. Tell them that the Archangel will provide covering fire and continue at flank speed to Artemis," Murrue directed. Moments later a message and visual cue were sent according to her instructions, and for a few seconds everything appeared to be going according to plan. That is, of course, when Murphy decided to stick his nose in.

XXXXX

Athrun was launching yet another attack against the Strike when his communications system chirped to life. Upon reading the message, he stopped dead in mid-motion and his jaw dropped as Kira's face appeared on his screen.

"You should be getting a recall order right about now, Athrun," he said, forcing an expressionless mask over his features to contain his confused feelings. He was relieved that he wouldn't have to fight his best friend anymore, but he was still angry enough with the cyan-haired coordinator that a small, dark part of him had hoped Mwu's Gambit would fail. "Please, Athrun, don't try to stop us." Kira says before reiterating his earlier sentiments. "I don't want to hurt you, but if you come after the Archangel, I'll have no choice," he said as he turned the Strike around and boosted back towards the Assault Carrier.

Athrun was left there in open space for several moments staring after his friend wondering just what had happened to the smiling boy who'd laughed at his jokes at Copernicus before his communications gear chirped again, demanding confirmation. Frowning in a mix of confusion and worry, he acknowledged, turned, and boosted back to the lamed Vesalius.

XXXXX

Nicol's eyes widened in surprise as a message flashed onto his screen. He acknowledged out of habit, even as his conscious mind refused to accept just how badly they'd been suckered. _They weren't fighting to win, they were making a play for time. Damn. _Peripherally, he noticed Yzak screaming about the withdraw order from Le Creuset and prepared to intervene only for Dearka to beat him to the punch.

"Don't be a fool Yzak! We're almost out of power. Even if we could take these two down, we'd never have a chance against a ship like that. Besides, that would leave Athrun trapped between the Strike and whatever ambushed the Vesalius."

This started to calm Yzak down, but Nicol finished the process. "As tough a time as we're having right now when they're outnumbered, it'd be even worse if we let them recapture or destroy the Aegis. Besides, they already know their units and ours. All we need to beat them is some time to adjust," he interjected. _Looks like Mount Joule won't be erupting today after all._

As usual, the thought came only a moment too soon. A face that all three recognized and none of them liked popped up on their main view screens.

"So this is the best team in ZAFT?" the purple-eyed red-haired twenty-year old in a team commander's uniform asked. Yzak very nearly went apoplectic. He would have too, career or no career, if it had been anyone else. However, James Tyler was not a run of the mill ZAFT commander. He was one of the only four ZAFT Mobile Suit pilots to survive the Battle of Endymion Crater, and the highest ranking of the two that were still active.

To someone who didn't know him, Commander Tyler presented an imposing façade. The Order of the Nebula and the fact that he was the second youngest person ever to be elevated to a commander's billet would have seen to that all by themselves. The scar that ran from just below his right eye to the corner of his mouth and left him with a sneer permanently etched onto his face added to the impression of rightful superiority despite the fact that it would have seemed snide and cutting on another man. On one of the three survivors of the Silver Seraphs, it seemed somehow appropriate.

Nine men whose real names hadn't been recorded in even the most highly classified documents of the PLANTs for fear that Blue Cosmos would find a way to retaliate against the families of the best Mobile Suit pilots in space. Named after the Archangels of myth, they were rulers of the battlefield. Under the command of Azrael, the Angel of Death, the nine silver-painted GINNs had wrecked bloody havoc on all of the enemies of their home. Assembled two years after the Mandelbrot Incident, they only barely missed the fighting at the doomed colony Junius Seven, but that was the only battle that they didn't take part in. They fought in every engagement from the Battle of Yggdrasil and the First Battle of Jachin Due to the campaign along the Grimaldi Front.

The only unit that OMNI had that could oppose them on anything approaching equal ground had been Mwu La Flaga's elite Moebius Zero corps, and the fighting between the two groups had been brutal. Ninety percent of the Zero's losses were inflicted by the Seraphs and the same could be said in reverse.

Until Endymion. After Endymion, everything changed. Of the six who went to battle that day, only three of the Seraphs returned. Azrael had been locked in a duel with his nemesis, La Flaga and had drifted away from the main area of battle. When the Cyclops had gone up, he and the OMNI pilot had been far enough away that they didn't even take damage.

Michael had been as fortunate, though for a different reason. After having destroyed the defenses guarding the northern approach vector, his GINN had been damaged by one of the Zero squadron and had withdrawn for repairs, guarded by the fourth survivor, Yumiko Akagi. They had been aboard the ZAFT Destroyer _Liberation_ when the Cyclops went off.

And Raziel had been saved by a small crevice in the lunar surface just large enough to protect his GINN from the worst of the blast wave. The scar he bore was evidence of how close to the explosion he'd been. Abruptly Nicol realized that he'd missed a sizeable part of the conversation, "-out of here, the Fallen Ones can take these naturals apart without your help!"

Nicol grimaced at that. _Yzak is going to be absolutely unbearable for at least a week. _he thought, wishing once again that his cousin, David, hadn't resigned after Endymion before he turned and began making his way back to the Gamow.

XXXXX

David should have been ecstatic. After all, they'd just finished their holding action and the captured Gundams were withdrawing. So why did it feel like someone was dancing on his grave?

On an impulse, David tuned his radio in to a general ZAFT frequency, "-the Fallen Ones can take these naturals apart without your help!"

David paled; he knew that voice. _Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! _was followed closely by, _We are soooo screwed._

Flicking his radio back to the OMNI frequency he'd been using, he hit the all circuits call button. "Enemy reinforcements are on the way! Expect six units, GINNs and a CGUE. Scramble maintenance crew for emergency rearmament of Mobile Suits," he called out, reflexively slipping back into Commander mode. He immediately had half a dozen people calling for his attention. He switched to his dedicated line to the Stormcrow.

"Mir, get back to the Archangel and recharge," he said in a no-nonsense tone, interrupting her nascent tirade. "We are about to run headlong into one of the Silver Seraphs and you are _not _going to be here when it happens." He told her as her face paled. It appeared that even children of a neutral colony had heard that name.

Then she rallied slightly, her pale face slipping into a mask of concentration. "Then you need to come back too. There's no way you can stop them alone!" she said, trying to reason with him.

David would have none of it. "Goddamnit, Mir, get back to the ship and top off your energy reserves. You'd be nothing but a sitting duck out here! I fought alongside Raziel from Yggdrasil to Grimaldi! I at least have a chance of doing some damage to him in this cluster fuck; you are nothing more than a target as far as someone of his ability is concerned!" he winced internally as Mir jerked back, startled. It was manifestly obvious that she didn't like what she was doing, but she did it anyway.

Quickly switching back to the Archangel's channel, David rolled over Natarle's demands by sheer force of will and volume. "The Fallen Ones are on their way in. I shouldn't have to tell you what that means," he said as every professional soldier on the bridge stiffened in surprise. "I'll hold them off for as long as I can. Rearm the Strike and Stormcrow and then get the Hawk and them out here. Hopefully by the time I'm done, they'll be more or less at equal terms." David immediately switched his radio off. The Devastator's PSA followed immediately along with heating systems and cockpit life support. Every system that wasn't needed to fight was deactivated, saving every erg of power for moving and shooting. By his best estimate, he'd have three minutes by the time they arrived. He closed his eyes for a few moments and thought back to his time in ZAFT. It was ironic that now he was going to die fighting against them.

His eyes flicked back open as his radar chirped at him. They were approaching firing range. On impulse, he decided on one last radio message. _It's not as though I'll have to live with the repercussions._ He reactivated his radio and set it on a general frequency, one that was sure to be monitored by ZAFT and the EA. "And the Lord said to Moses, 'At midnight I will send forth the Angel of Death, and the firstborn of all the land shall die. From the firstborn of Pharaoh to the youngest slave in the mill, and there shall be an outcry in these lands such as there has never been before, and shall never be again.'" After a momentary pause that David knew would not be long enough for the ZAFT team to gather their wits he continued, "Azrael's sword is drawn! It shall be sheathed in only Victory or Death!"

Moments later, the Fallen Ones entered their range of him and he deactivated the radio again and boosted forward. The battle was joined once again as the words of a verse from the Poet of War ran through his head. _Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget. _And an old, familiar prayer came to his lips. One his father had introduced him to years ago by way of the old two-dimensional videos, "Lord, make me fast and accurate,"

XXXXX

All over near space, people with access to a radio were invariably staring at it, stunned. Nicol, who'd been in the process of landing, nearly crashed into the parked Duel as he heard his cousin's voice give challenge. Miriallia's eyes flew wide as she realized who she'd been flying beside in the last few days. Kira looked at his radio, uncomprehending as Mwu swore a blue streak in the cockpit of his Zero. James Tyler slammed his fists onto the sides of his command chair in fury. Captain Murrue Ramius had the most collected reaction of the entire bunch. She blinked and her jaw dropped momentarily in shock before she took hold of herself and continued issuing orders.

XXXXX

When the Lieutenant calmed down enough to think, he immediately frowned and sent a message to the Archangel and the Strike. He hit the Zero's thrusters and boosted towards the battle continuing behind the Assault Carrier. Somehow it was ironic that he was going to rescue a pilot that the year before he would have happily shot dead. But he _really_ wanted to know why Azrael had been on Heliopolis, and why he wasn't in ZAFT. The fact that he wasn't was manifestly obvious. There was no way Azrael could have been convinced to kill comrades no matter what. If he had been undercover, Devastator would have had some imaginary, but impossible to confirm, fault that kept it out of the battle. That and the fact that he hadn't told them that he was the Angel of Death were pretty good indicators that he was genuinely on their side.

_He was too pissed off at that rat bastard Le Creuset to have been acting. So he didn't know about the G-weapons before he ran literally into one of them in Morgenroete. _Anything that ZAFT had done to convince the former commander of the Seraphs to desert or resign would have to have been serious indeed. Thus Mwu's burning desire to know what David, if that was even his real name, had been doing going to College on Heliopolis. And he couldn't find out if he let the SOB die.

XXXXX

"Ma'am, message from the Lieutenant. 'Prepare to deploy Launcher-Striker with the Catapult.'?" a communications rating in CIC reports with confusion as the Archangel, responding to its Captain's orders cuts acceleration and prepares once again for anti-Mobile Suit combat.

"What?" Natarle asks before Sai begins speaking to Kira and Tolle breaks in. "I get it," he says, "The Strike's batteries are in the Striker packs. Refuel on the fly and go support the Devastator!" Tolle calls out, remembering the Strike's power-up at Heliopolis.

_It's insane, but I'll be damned if it might not work anyway! _Murrue considered. "Call CPO Murdock and tell him to get it ready! Open a line to the Strike!" moments later, Kira's face appeared on the main screen, he looked tired from his battle with the Aegis, but not exhausted.

"Kira, we know the Aile Striker is running short of power, so we're going to fire the Launcher pack with the catapult. Get ready for it. Lieutenant La Flaga can give you the details." She said. Kira nodded in determination, apparently unwilling to let David die without a fight.

"Miriallia's heading back in!" Sai's voice cried from down below in the CIC.

"Tell her to use the port side catapult. Mr. Murdock, status report." Natarle barked from the same location.

"We're ready when you are. But just for the record, this is ludicrous!" the Chief Petty Officer responded over the com.

"Understood," Murrue said, breaking into the conversation, "but this is the only was to get reinforcements to the Devastator fast enough." She finished as she closed the connection and turned her attention to the floor below her. "Ensign Badgiruel! I'll leave the timing up to you," she informed her second.

"Roger. Transferring ship's controls to CIC. Laser designator, online," she continued in her usual collected tone. "Match velocity with the Strike and transfer control of catapult launch timing to the Launcher Striker's computer."

Several tense moments passed as the Strike and Archangel shifted into position.

A series of beeps came from one of the CIC consoles. "Ma'am," one of the ratings reported, "the Strike is now aligned with the route,"

"Activate the catapult!" Natarle ordered. Moments later, the Launcher Striker spat out of the Archangel's starboard catapult and was quickly attached to its Mobile Suit.

"Rendezvous successful! Marking the location of the Aile Striker for retrieval," the rating reported and the tension of the last two minutes began to seep from the crew's bones. Now the only thing that they could do was sit back and watch as the Strike and the last Zero accelerated toward the renewed fighting behind them.

XXXXX

The fact that the pilots of the six machines hadn't bothered to ask Le Creuset's team about his weapons capabilities was the only thing that saved him in that first exchange. _If nothing else, you can always trust Raziel to be arrogant. _Usually, he was right to be somewhat overly sure of himself. There really were very few people who could outfight him one on one. This time, however, that arrogance cost him. David still had missiles left. And there was no way in hell that he was getting blown up with missiles still on the launch racks.

Sixteen missiles vomited from their tubes, eight small and improbably fast, and the rest larger with better sensors and tracking systems. Six of the former were targeted on the lone CGUE of the group, the unit that had to belong to Raziel, while four of the larger missiles targeted the forward pair of GINNS. Against most ZAFT teams, that tactic would have resulted in either the loss of the pair of GINNs or the destruction of the team commander; the soldiers would simply be unable to intercept the missiles fast enough.

As David knew, though, the Fallen Ones were no ordinary ZAFT team. The GINNs didn't even bother trying to defend their commander. Six missiles, no matter how fast, were simply not a threat to the former Seraph. Instead the other five, led by the CGUE's wingman methodically picked off all eight of the larger homing missiles.

It was, all in all, just what David had suspected would happen, up to and including the fact that their overworked detection systems would miss the final pair of sprint missiles coming up behind their larger cousins. The ZAFT pilot probably didn't even have time to realize that the Devastator's last two missiles, fired scant seconds after the larger, more visible launch, had targeted him before their twin detonations carried him into the afterlife.

However, even before they struck, David was moving. A quick press of a button sends a shot of electricity into the Heavy Arms' systems. Massive bolts unlock and a surge of energy activates powerful electromagnets that push the components of the shoulder and leg mounted missile launchers apart and drops the five–barreled Gattling off of the Devastator's left arm. The shoulder-mounted shield slides down the arm and rotates ninety degrees before splitting and reconfiguring into a normal-sized Mobile Suit shield while the three meter long forearm blade extends out over the Gundam's knuckles. David immediately brings the shield up in front of him, just in time to deflect the first volley of bullets from the _very _irate ZAFT team.

David kept boosting forward. _Wait for it, fait for it, NOW! _He quickly rotates thirty degrees and pitches down, shifting his shield to cover their new angle above him. Raziel and his team were good, but, like any squad, they fought how they trained, and Raziel had always been more stuck in his ways than Azrael. David knew that Raziel wouldn't have altered the combat "plays" he and Gabriel had come up with before their first deployment. He knew that, in the mind of one James Tyler 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' was God and all the prophets rolled into one. This time, though, it was broke. And he knew Raziel wouldn't be able to fix it in time. All he had to do was keep them busy for a few more minutes and try to whittle them down some more. Three he knew the Hawk and two Gundams could take. He was fairly confident that they could handle four. Five, though, was probably pushing it. This left David maneuvering for position instead of scooting back towards the Archangel for re-supply.

David frowned in concentration and unconsciously began to peel the top layer of skin off of his lower lip with his teeth. _When assaulting a defensive formation, the idea is to maximize your angles of fire while minimizing chances of blue-on-blue. If they're strong where you are, they must be weak somewhere else. Spreading out while maintaining contact gives you the greatest chance to detect and defeat the enemy at their weakest point. _Raziel knew that as well as he did. He should, he'd lived that philosophy for over a year. The Silver Seraphs alone had destroyed an entire OMNI Battlegroup at Yggdrasil when they outflanked their supporting mobile armors and got in amongst the warships. No combat system or style was strong everywhere, there was always an exploitable weak spot.

And right now, he was one big weak spot. He was strong in melee and strong against gunfire when he could bring his shield into play. Everywhere else, he might as well be a three-year old playing with explosives. He'd run out of correct choices eventually. Those facts eliminated two options. He couldn't play offence, and he couldn't play defense. _Looks like its time to get creative. _A feint. That was the only option left to him. It was going to be sloppy and not nearly as subtle as he was used to, but, with his reputation, that might actually be a point in his favor.

All of this, thought and counter-thought, took less than a second. Much of it was subconscious, an instinctive reaction from more than a year on the sharp end, almost a form of mental muscle memory. What it came up with was absolutely idiotic, considering his current power levels. But as the United States Armed Forces had once said, before the pressures of time had toppled the mighty nation, 'If it's stupid, and it works, then it ain't stupid.'

Assuming they were using standard Seraph tactics, and David was relatively sure they were, then in about . . . six seconds there'd be three of 'em grouped together. That'd give him his best chance as actually pulling off his harebrained idea. He juked just slightly to avoid a stream of bullets from Raziel's CGUE and then flipped 'up' ninety degrees while rolling right just short of forty. The maneuver would have left him wide open to any enemies behind him, but he knew that there weren't any there. He shifted his shield to the right to cover the two Mobile Suits there, which left the three GINNs in front of him with an open shot.

Or it would have if they hadn't been whirling into frantic evasion patterns. Looking down the barrels of two massive six-barreled Gattling Guns does that to a person. David was preparing to boost forward and start chopping them up while they were unable to support each other when an orange/red bolt of energy ripped one of the three GINNs in half and, moments later, a volley of railgun and cannon fire followed. It was nearly all David could do to swing himself back into a defensive stance as the Strike and Zero flashed past volleying fire at the now retreating ZAFT team. The only question in his mind before the power died completely as everything shut down in order to preserve life support was, _How the _hell _did they do that so fast?_

XXXXX

Wow, it's been a long time since I updated, and this is only about half of what I wanted to write for this chapter. I didn't quite get to Artemis like I thought I would, so that'll be next chapter. I've already got it started, so hopefully I can get it up sometime in December. Also, as my Beta has been reordering her schedule so she actually gets seven hours or so of sleep each night, this has not been inspected before being posted.

I'll probably post on AMH next, but if this new chapter cooperates, I might be done more quickly than I expect.

Also, please review!

And that's it. I'm goin' back to bed.


	4. A Goddess Falls

Well, here we are again! Hopefully this chapter is better than the last one was. All I can think of is that it was somehow horrible since almost no one bothered to review it. :(

A big thank you to NoshMono, Dragoon Swordsman, Tony the jew, Emperor Draco7, and Storm Wolf 77415 for taking the time to review and give me their reactions to the third chapter. After all, it's not quantity so much as quality that counts

Also, my beta raised the point that David's personality has changed quite a bit since the first chapter, and since you guys don't know what I do, that may be putting you off. The David we saw in chapter one was a mask. The David you will see in the early stages of this chapter is a reflection of who he used to be. However, David's real personality still hasn't quite come through yet. Please be patient with me and tell me if the difference is too noticeable.

Again, sorry this chapter took so long, but I rewrote it five times, and I'm still not quite happy with it.

Now without any further interruptions, we return you to your regularly scheduled fic.

XXXXX

Chapter Four

A Goddess Falls

_The tumult and the shouting dies;_

_The Captains and the Kings depart:_

_Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,_

_An humble and a contrite heart._

_Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,_

_Lest we forget – lest we forget!_

**Rudyard Kipling**

**Recessional**

Assault Ship _Archangel: En route _to Eurasian Federation Military Satellite _Artemis_

The first sensation to hit David when he woke was the heat. Not that it was really hot, a part of his mind realized, just that it was much warmer than it had been the last time he'd been conscious. He frowned and blinked when he opened his eyes as the light seemed to stab into them. He winced and turned his head to the side to protect his sight while his brain tried to figure out where he was and why he was there. A memory flashed across the screen of his thoughts and he relaxed. The Archangel. _Probably the infirmary, losing cockpit heating when the temperature in there was already at less than five degrees Celsius is not a fun experience. They probably panicked when I didn't climb out of the hatch on my own once we got back aboard ship. _David was once more glad that he was a coordinator; a natural would probably have frozen to death before they got back to the ship. Mobile Suit cockpits were not very well insulated.

David lifted his head far enough off the bed to look around and confirmed that, yes, this was the infirmary, but, surprisingly, there wasn't a guard in sight. _They must expect me to be out for a while yet. Their Doc's probably never treated a Coordinator before. _David slowly sat up to keep from blacking out as his body readjusted to normal temperatures. Rapidly returning cold blood to the heart wasn't fatal for a Coordinator, not unless there was something else wrong too, but that didn't make chest pain any more fun for someone recovering from a serious case of hypothermia.

After sitting on the edge of the bed long enough to let his body find its equilibrium, David stood and began searching the cabinets for his flight suit or a uniform he could wear. He didn't find either, but inside the drawer beneath the bed he'd been resting on, he did find the set of clothes he'd worn-Was it only two days before?-on Heliopolis. The archaic black denim jeans and light red long-sleeved shirt seem almost foreign as he slips them on after shedding the ubiquitous gown. It's as though the months he spent at peace were nothing but a dream, quickly fading in the light of day. That was about the time that everything from the earlier battle caught up with him.

_Another oath broken, _he thinks, momentarily lost in sorrow and anger that things had come to this point. The memory was as easily called to mind this year later as it was the day it had happened. Before his comrades, his brothers in arms, he had sworn three oaths that had become the unwritten law of the Seraphs.

The first: to defend and protect the PLANTs to the best of his ability, placing his own life aside as unimportant before the lives of innocents. "My blood before theirs, my honor before theirs, my life before theirs," had echoed in his mind from Yggdrasil to Jachin and beyond.

The second: to lead and guide the forces of the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty in war and, hopefully, in peace. To provide an example to all of what the military arm of the PLANTs stood for. He could not count the times he had stood before graduates fresh from the academy and declared, "In the words of noble men, long dead, 'We hold these truths to be self evident: That all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,' These things are what we fight for. The reasons we find ourselves upon the battlefield," or declared to his enemies, "The cause we fight for is just. You have two choices this day. Retreat, or die,"

The third was equally simple in message: "As I stand before you today, I swear that I will treat all of you as my brothers and sisters, as if you had been born of the same mother, on the same hour, of the same day as I. From this moment on, every one of you is Kin to me and mine," An oath of brotherhood that he had hoped would survive him.

Now a scant three hundred and fifty days after they had been spoken, the last of those oaths had been shattered. In truth, the first had not lasted a month. The tragedy at Junius Seven had seen that oath broken before their first battle was fought. Two hundred forty-seven thousand, seven hundred twenty-one. That number was burned into his memory forever, almost a quarter of a million souls that had preceded him into the afterlife when he had sworn to protect them. That had hurt a naïve boy named David very badly, and it was, in its own way, responsible for the creation of Azrael.

The second he had broken after Endymion when he had walked into Patrick Zala's offices after hours and left his letter of resignation sitting on the desk. He had left Aprilus the same night, stopping only long enough to send his cousin Nicol a message.

And the same day, if the clock on the wall was right, less than an hour before, he had broken the third when he opened fire, with lethal intent, on a man he had once called brother.

However, before he could wallow any further into self-pity, the infirmary door slid open and Murrue and Mwu walked through the portal, serious expressions melting quickly into surprise when they saw that he was up and moving again.

David smiles wanly at the pair of them as their expressions once again begin to darken. "I guess I've got some 'splainin' ta do, huh?"

XXXXX

As a gesture of respect, they had forgone the handcuffs and guards that technically should have been present for an interrogation of this magnitude. And frankly the silence was making David jittery. The first question was not what he expected.

"Why the melodrama?" The Hawk of Endymion asked suddenly and when the other two occupants of the room looked at him strangely, continued. "Ah, that didn't come out quite the way I intended. What I meant is, why the speeches and the quotes before you start a fight? I've never really understood why you did that?" Mwu concluded with a shrug.

David smiles slightly before commenting, "Ya' know, if someone had told me that the first question I'd be asked when questioned by the Earth Alliance was why I used inspirational quotes before a battle, I'd have asked him what he'd been smoking. You truly are an intriguing individual, oh Hawk of Endymion," However, before Murrue or La Flaga can interject, David continues.

"Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem called 'A Hymn Before Action' in which the narrator entreats God for aid in a coming battle, and it always seemed to me like the sort of thing to do before a fight. All of us meet upon the field, knowing that there's a good chance that we won't be walking away after all's said and done. Having a higher purpose helps us to forget our fear and remind us of what we're fighting for. That was the primary reason, well, that and reminding them that the Seraphs would be at the front line beside them. Second," he paused for a second as a small, sad smile crept across his lips. "Second, is because, despite the fact that I was given command of the Seraphs, I was incredibly young and naïve. I had hoped that we'd be able to sway the Earth Forces opinion of Coordinators by force of example." He turned and looked at Mwu, "That's why Standing Order 173 existed,"

Mwu's eyebrows nearly merged with his hairline, "I didn't know that you had anything to do with that." When the Captain turns a questioning eye on him, he elaborates, "Standing Order One-Seven-Three stated that no unit of the ZAFT militia was permitted to fire upon a retreating enemy unit. That order wasn't retracted until after the Battle of Endymion."

David nodded in confirmation, "I know it'll come up, so I'll answer the question while we're on a related topic. The removal of one-seven-three is a large part of the reason that I am no longer a member of ZAFT." Murrue was unable to keep her expression still at that declaration. "I know," David says soothingly, "it seems like such a minor thing. But understand this." The former ZAFT ace continued more coldly than before. "I fought for the people of the PLANTs. Period. I wasn't born in space, so I had no inherent loyalty to ZAFT, or the idea of a Coordinator Nation-State. I didn't, and still don't, really care about the political reasons behind the PLANTs existence; I fought because I thought that it was the right thing to do. Even before the massacre at Junius, the PLANTs had the moral high ground, and after it . . . well, the fact that the EA was in the wrong seemed self-evident.

"The retraction of one-seven-three was the last straw, the one last measure that changed my mind." He stated sadly, "We were becoming what we had fought against, and no one could see it," though his voice was relatively normal, David's eyes were clouded with memories. "I argued against it, but the council was dead-set on pursuing revenge and not even the Chairman could change their minds." For a brief moment he could almost see the council chambers where the decision had been argued. "It seemed that overnight the goal of the war had gone from the protection of the civilians of the PLANTs to the total destruction of the Naturals," he paused for a breath before finishing unhappily, "Less than five hours after that decision, I had tendered my resignation and left for Heliopolis." The two OMNI Officers sat for several moments, stunned by the glimpse they had just received into the life of the young man, barely more than a boy, who had been their enemy a few months before.

"As for the melodrama accusation, it's just always seemed to work for me," he declared in an attempt to lighten the mood and shake himself out of his own memories. "Next question?" David requested politely, drawing them back to the present.

"You said your name was David Almafi when you came aboard," Lieutenant La Flaga said leadingly, his head coked to the left, "and your identification agrees, but Almafi isn't a common name _anywhere,_ and its rarer than normal in Orb; however, I can't help but notice that it bears a striking resemblance to Amalfi." The Hawk of Endymion concluded with a raised eyebrow.

_Damn. I was afraid of that. _David thought while trying to hide a wince.

"Now," Mwu continued, "while we don't by any means get every scrap of information that's available to the PLANTs, it's hard to miss the name of the Supreme Council member from Maius."

This time, David couldn't hide his wince, "Yeah, I'm an Amalfi, but not the branch you're talking about." He said, shaking his head. "My father is Jason Amalfi. His father was Alex Amalfi. His dad was Hiko Amalfi, and he is the first person on both of our family trees. Alex was the older son, and they hadn't done any genetic engineering when he was born. After that, it was sort of a point of pride that we'd been able to keep up with the coordinator side of the family without the need for modifications of our own." David said with a shrug. "We kept in pretty close contact up until the Mandelbrot Incident. That's when I decided to head into space."

Mwu nodded before responding, "So, why did your parents decide to make you a coordinator? I mean, if it was a point of pride, why surrender it since your family felt so strongly about it?" The Hawk questioned, obviously trying to find any holes in the story.

David nodded; he'd expected the question. "My dad saw the writing on the wall before anyone else." He said calmly. "He knew that there would be a war in his lifetime, and he took steps to see that Orb would be able to survive it. I was one of those steps."

"If you don't mind me asking," Murrue questioned, "what were the others?"

David shook his head and grinned wryly, "Nice try Captain, but I'm not at liberty to discuss that, even if I knew all of the answers myself."

Murrue nodded thoughtfully before continuing, "Despite everything, I'm inclined to believe that you've told us the truth so far. However, how do you explain the fact that you were carrying a half dozen knives on your person and apparently have been since Heliopolis?" she asked, but with genuine curiosity instead of aggressive belligerence like David had half expected.

He sighed before repeating his earlier explanation to the other students. "I'm on an Earth Alliance ship. I'm a Coordinator. Blue Cosmos is known to be active within OMNI. Ever since I stepped on board I've been half expecting some Cos-Symp to try and kill Kira and me." He stated with a shrug. "Besides, knives, especially ones like mine, are easier to hide than guns and maximum range inside a ship, even one this big, isn't very high. If I can see them they're inside my reach." Murrue, by this time was looking at him like he had sprouted a second head. Mwu, on the other hand, simply grimaced and nodded confirmation, at which time Murrue switched her disbelieving look to him.

"You might not hear much about it on a detachment like this, especially with Admiral Haliburton in overall command, but a lot of OMNI does have a problem with those fanatics," The Hawk of Endymion admitted. "I had to have one of my pilots court marshaled for beating the holy howling hell out of a Blue Cosmos Sympathizer for an inappropriate comment." At the pair of inquisitive looks turned on him he resumed, "Seems his Great-Great-Grandfather was a prisoner in a Nazi Concentration Camp during the Second World War in the early twentieth century. He called a Marine Colonel a 'Skin headed Fascist mothe-' anyway, he proceeded to beat him into intensive care." Mwu shrugged again, "As you can probably guess, I don't have much use for people who judge a person by their genetics."

Murrue then nodded in reluctant agreement. "I can see why you'd feel the need to protect yourself," she said, "However, I would have thought you could have trusted us with you worries. After all, do you think that the Atlantic Federation would knowingly appoint someone to deal with ORB who might have reason to dislike one of the people that they were going to be working with?"

David bobbed his head in consideration, "If I'd known that Hallburton was in charge of the Gundam project, I might have. Our files on him have always marked him as a straight shooter, and, more importantly, someone who wouldn't give a Blue Cosmos goon the time of day." _Or a glass of water in the Sahara, but that's beside the point._

David turned to Murrue, "I apologize for not informing you that I was in possession of weapons, but I won't apologize for carrying them in the first place." He informed the Captain.

She nodded, "I suppose that's the best that I could expect, just please be more careful in the future." David indicated his agreement even as the phrase 'in the future' penetrated.

_Well, I'll be damned. I may just survive this mess after all._

The rest of the questioning was fairly standard stuff. What he knew about the Heliopolis incident and the G-weapons as they were officially called, which he answered, and what he knew about ZAFT and the PLANTs, which he mostly did not, were prominent. However, by the end of the two-hour session, things seemed to have worked out. They knew he wouldn't betray the citizens of the PLANTs, but that he also had very little remaining loyalty to ZAFT, and that he would safeguard the ORB civilians onboard the Archangel to his last breath.

Murrue and Mwu looked at each other for a moment, apparently attempting to divine whether or not there was anything else to ask. After a moment, the Captain turns back to him, and states, "I suppose that we've only got two questions left. First, will you stay with this ship after we get the civilians from Heliopolis to safety?"

David opened his mouth to answer, but then paused. He'd intended to go back to Orb with the civilians that the Archangel had rescued and act as a guard for them on their way back to Earth. Now, though, he found himself, against all of his expectations, reconsidering. There was just . . . an indefinable _something_ about the ship and her crew that had his conscious pricking him. His brows came together and lowered as he considered what his subconscious had apparently already noted.

They reminded him of the Seraphs. The sense of . . . rightness about the ship was nearly tangible. It stemmed from the fact that two coordinators had remained unharmed, despite their genetics and the fact that others of their breed had killed a large portion of the crew. That children of a neutral colony walked the decks of the ship instead of sitting in the brig because they had been in the wrong place at the wrong time was a point in their favor, as was the fact that the Hawk of Endymion was aboard. Plus, he had a responsibility to _act. _To do what others could or would not do. The only real question was whether or not he could overcome his disgust with the Earth Forces and work with them long enough to force an end to the fighting.

David stared intently at the Captain for a moment before finally answering. "Two days ago, I'd have said no. I would have taken the Devastator into atmosphere and guarded them on their return to Orb. Now," he paused momentarily and shrugged, "I'm not so sure. This crew is . . ." David paused again, carefully choosing his words, "very different from what I expected to find." He shrugged in irritation at being unable to find the right words. "I can't really explain it," He said with a shrug trying to convey his thoughts through his own confusion.

Deciding that he wasn't going to make any further progress given the fact that his own thoughts on the matter were more than a little confused, he decided to change the subject. "So what was the other question?" he inquired with a raised eyebrow.

Murrue again looked at Mwu. This time Mwu was the one who broached what was probably going to be a touchy subject. "You have the most experience out of anyone on board where mobile suits are concerned with the possible exception of myself, and you certainly know more about operating mobile suits than I do." Mwu paused and ran a hand through his hair. "Ah, hell, I'm not good at beating around the bush. I don't know mobile suit tactics well enough to help either of the kids out, and its obvious that you do." Mwu stated, apparently not liking to admit that he had a failing.

Again, this was a request, however delicately put, that he would have denied mere days ago by reflex, never stopping to think about his answer. Now, though certain implications of such a choice were unpleasant, he was not about to reject it out of hand. "I won't join the Earth Forces, if that's what you're asking. Not even for them." He said bluntly, not really expecting that to be their expectation. Their surprised expressions give away the fact that they hadn't considered that particular interpretation of the Hawk's request. As did Murrue's slightly stuttered denial. David smiled to put their minds at ease before his expression turned serious again. "I'll teach them what I can, but I don't expect either of them to stay for long once the refugees are offloaded, whenever that may be," David said with a shrug. Murrue nodded in acceptance.

"You have our gratitude for that," she said with a nod, "but how do you intend to accomplish it? I know Artemis will want to know everything we can tell them about ZAFT's attack on Heliopolis and our battles on the way here. Plus, they probably have long-range sensor logs of our battle earlier. What do you suggest that we tell them?"

David frowned as that idea caught up with him. He couldn't pretend to be with OMNI. Word of the Gundam pilots was bound to leak out of even an isolated outpost like Artemis, and when it did, the rumors could not be allowed to name him an Earth Forces pilot. There were enough people still in ZAFT and the PLANTs who would recognize his name or description if they heard it, and learning that one of ZAFT's greatest heroes was a traitor would crush the people's morale. That could lead to the death of more civilians; as such, it could not be allowed. "I'll think of something," After all, his Coordinator brain had to be useful for something other than memorizing poetry or devising tactics. Occasionally. Maybe.

"Well," Mwu said as he stretched while he fought his way free of the chair that he'd occupied for nearly two hours, "you'd better think quickly. Unless I'm much mistaken-"

"Ma'am," Natarle's sudden interruption startled everyone in the chamber, "We are approaching Artemis. I would expect them to hail us within a few minutes." The Ensign called over the intercom.

Murrue nodded as she walked over to the communications panel inside the door. "Understood Natarle, I'll be there momentarily," She said as her Captain's face slid into place, locking her visible emotions away behind an ivory mask. She turned back to him and Mwu as the door slid open. "Would you like to join me?"

Mwu gave the confident, borderline cocky grin that David was rapidly learning to recognize as another form of disguise. "How could I refuse?"

David simply smiled and nodded.

XXXXX

Mir woke in the room that she shared with the other students from Heliopolis in the crowded bowels of the Earth Forces Assault Carrier _Archangel _and wondered how she had come to be there. For several moments the memory refused to come to her, but when it did, it hit with the full force of a Gundam's strike.

David, a young man, a classmate, that she had considered a friend, was the Angel of Death. Discovering that Kira moonlighted as a male stripper would have surprised her less, though the momentary flash of a mental image distracted her from her recent memory for several seconds. Shaking herself free of _that_ train of thought, she settled more firmly on the set of tracks that she'd previously occupied.

_So, one of my closest friends is actually an incredibly deadly ZAFT ace. That- _actually, now that she thought about it, it explained quite a bit. _That's why he started in the middle of the semester the way he did. Probably also why he actually managed to pass all of those classes, _she considered mildly while her purely natural brain tried to process what had happened. After several minutes of quiet contemplation, she came to the conclusion that he most likely hadn't been working as a spy. That, however, was as far as she was willing to go on the subject. A small voice abruptly chimed in.

_Would a spy have bothered to help a Natural that had no technical expertise and less experience._

This voice, however, was quickly quashed with her returned thought, _He would have if it ended up with me in a second Gundam! _Still, she wasn't quite able to convince herself either way. _Reserve judgment. Got it. _She sighed in exasperation and tried to prod her exhausted mind into revealing what it knew.

She remembered flying back to the Archangel to recharge the 'Crow's batteries. In fact, she'd been able to see the opening of the massive Carrier's flight deck before her when her radio had activated. After that, she didn't remember much. In fact, from that point on, it was easier to list what she _didn't _remember than what she did. She didn't remember landing or parking her mobile suit. She didn't remember deactivating the Stormcrow, or getting out, and she had no idea how she'd wound up in her room in. _Well at least I'm still in my flight suit, so nobody undressed me. _

She struggled into a vertical position while trying to keep her spinning head attached. _First order of business, clothes. _Fortunately, someone had thought to run down to the room where she'd changed and retrieve her clothing, so the outfit that she'd been wearing on Heliopolis was back in the drawers below her bunk. She idly wondered how they had managed to get them in there, since she was fairly certain that the pants at least could stand up by themselves, but decided, after a moment, that there was nothing for it, and, after some work with the flight suit's seals, and a little more work with her not-quite-grime-encrusted clothes, she was somewhat more neatly dressed than she had been. _Now all I need is a shower and a washing machine and I'll feel almost human again. _She considered as she shrugged her shoulders in a vain attempt to fix the fit of her rumpled shirt.

She abandoned the attempt a few moments later; her war-shrunk wardrobe needed more help than she could give it at the moment. For nearly a minute, she stood in the center of the room, her eyes wandering aimlessly.

Not a room. A cabin. A cabin on a ship of a nation that was in the throes of a war unlike any since the World Wars of the twentieth century. She fingered her shirt, and remembered Heliopolis; when she got to the part where she wasn't going to see it again, she nearly broke down then and there. Instead, she clenched her jaw and her fists. _Mom and Dad, my Grandparents, my Cousins. Will I ever see them again? _A part of her insisted on asking.

She wouldn't think about it. Couldn't really. If she stopped to consider it she'd be a blubbering mess for hours, and if there were any ZAFT ships out there, she'd be useless.

Suddenly, the atmosphere in the room seemed tense and oppressive. Miriallia abruptly felt the need for company. After checking once again to make sure that her attire was as good as it would get in the foreseeable future, she activated the door controls and stepped out into the corridor.

At that moment, she was struck by the fact that she had no idea where her friends would be. She knew that Sai, at least, was on the bridge, but she really didn't feel comfortable just showing up there uninvited. She could just see that conversation. _Hi everyone! Just thought I'd drop by and say hello. Oh, I'm sorry, did I distract you at a critical moment and do something to get the ship blown up? Sorry about that, _she imagined with a frown just how awkward that would be. In fact, the only place where she would feel comfortable, while at the same time having a possibility of finding one of her friends was the hanger bay. _Kira might be there, and at the least I can talk to the mechanics or the Stormcrow's AI. _It took no time at all to make up her mind; within a half-dozen seconds, she was making her way down the Archangel's corridors, still trying to get the hang of the ship's microgravity.

XXXXX

Kira twisted his neck left, and then right in an attempt to loosen muscles that had set like concrete nearly a dozen minutes earlier, _Hanging upside down with your head inside a mobile suit's knee could do that, _he supposed, again reflexively trying to loosen muscles tight with stress and swiftly accumulating fatigue. _Of course that damned support poking me in the back isn't helping matters. _Kira frowned as he looked at the last of the diagnostic screens. Gravity on the ship was nearly nonexistent, but there was just enough to give a sensation of wrongness to his position, and it was beginning to get on his nerves. Finally the screen blinked and Kira sighed in relief. Everything was clear. That was good. What irritated him was the fact that he was doing it at all.

It had taken all of twenty seconds after he'd gotten out of the Strike for CPO Murdoch to draft him into working on the Gundam while he and half of the other mechanics got the Stormcrow and the Devastator inspected and fixed. The other half . . .

A loud clang reverberated through the hanger bay, followed swiftly by swearing mechanics. Grimacing Kira began to squirm his way out of the cutting edge mobile suit's innards, for a moment profoundly irritated by the fact that even a coordinator's muscles had to be conditioned to work properly. And studying had not been adequate training for playing a vertical version of twister in amongst metal supports. As he finally extracted himself from the crawlspace through the access just above the Strike's knee joint, Kira felt a sudden sympathy for the mechanics. _No wonder they want my help with this crap. If I have trouble fitting in there, then how would someone like Murdoch feel? _Kira scowled as he finally got his neck and shoulders sorted out. _Not a job for a claustrophobic. _

Another loud clunk from the port side of the hanger caused Kira to flinch, and nearly drift free of his anchorage in the bay's microgravity. He glanced over to the source of the noise and stared. _How much time did I spend on those diagnostics?_

The GINN that David had recovered during their first real battle at Heliopolis was now in several hundred pieces spread all over the deck with at least a dozen still floating out in the middle of the hanger waiting for retrieval. _How the hell did they take apart a GINN in, _a quick glance at his chrono confirmed it, _two hours? _Something else occurred to him. _And what is the captain going to have to say about it?_

Kira was on the verge of deciding to abandon the hanger, maintenance work or not, before Murrue or the Lieutenant happened to wander in, when the Chief Petty Officer noticed him. "Hey, Kid! Did you figure out what's wrong with its knee?"

For a moment Kira couldn't remember what he was talking about. It took mere moments for his brain to kick back into gear. One of the diagnostic programs that he'd been running on the Strike had found a fault in the Gundam's right knee joint, and he'd been delving around inside the thing for nearly an hour looking for something that only existed in a loose sensor's imagination. "Yeah, a sensor got rattled loose from its frame. You'd probably have found it if you'd had time to finish the final work on it. I just tightened it down, it should be fine." _And _he thought wryly, _finding the right tools for that only took another thirty minutes._

"Good," Murdoch called back with a smile, "that's one spare part that we don't have an abundance of. For some damn dumb reason they used a totally different version of the sensor in the Aegis and the Strike than they did in the other three prototypes. We're just lucky Orb's two use the same ones as the first three G-Weapons." He continued with a head shake. "I don't suppose that you could be convinced to stay and help us work on this ZAFT piece of junk?" the NCO asked with his right eyebrow raised.

Kira smiled. _Points for chutzpah at least. _"Maybe in a few hours, but right now I need a meal, some rest, and a shower," he stated, "not necessarily in that order."

Murdoch nodded in understanding, "Alright, and good work on the Strike too." He said making a vague gesture towards the gunmetal-gray mobile suit. "Freed up a lot of my guys to start work on that GINN."

Kira smiled slightly at the compliment, his irritation fading away quickly now that the job was over and done with. "No problem Mr. Murdoch. I'm glad I could take some of the pressure off for you," Kira threw back over his shoulder as he kicked off towards the doorway, feeling more than a little satisfaction in work well done, even if he hadn't wanted to do it in the first place. All of that changed when he arrived at the doorway.

Just as he was preparing to push the lock release, the hatch shot open and he found Miriallia blinking at him in surprise from the other side.

XXXXX

"Message from Artemis, Ma'am," Romero Pal, the Petty Officer in charge of the Archangel's communications said as the Captain, Lieutenant, and David walked onto the bridge. To his credit he only paused for a moment when he saw the infamous Angel of Death before continuing, "'Request to enter port acknowledged. Inspecting officer is being sent.'"

"Thank you," Murrue says as she takes her seat in the command chair. "It looks like there won't be much excitement for a while. To be honest, I'd expected them to argue more." She turns and looks back to Natarle in the ship's CIC. "Thank you for handling the situation while I was occupied,"

Natarle nods respectfully to the Captain, as of yet unaware that David is in the same room. "Thank you, Ma'am," she says before asking the question on every member of the bridge crew's mind, including Sai and Flay alongside Ensign Badgiruel in the Combat Information Center, "Ma'am, what do you intend to do with the ZAFT ace?"

David frowned in slight annoyance, "_Former _ZAFT ace, thank you. I resigned months ago." He drawled out in a dry voice that had the by-the-book Ensign out of her seat staring at him within seconds of his first word.

"Captain!" she objected when she could find her voice, "What is going on here?"

Murrue simply looked at her with her left eyebrow arched, somehow seeming both disapproving and amused at the same time. "Ensign Badgiruel, this is David Amalfi of the Orb Union. He's agreed to pilot the Devastator for the purpose of defending the Orb nationals aboard this ship until they are able to disembark." She grinned at her subordinate. "And since protecting them just incidentally means protecting us as well, I'm not going to make an issue of it," A small smile spread across her face as she glanced at David, who was surprisingly silent, his head tilted to the side and a thoughtful expression on his face. She was about to ask him what was wrong, but before the first word could pass her lips, he smiled widely and nodded.

"Captain, you're a genius," the cobalt-eyed teen announced, a glimmer in his eyes.

"Huh?" was Murrue's elegant reply.

"I do believe I know what I'm going to say to Artemis on that topic we discussed earlier," _and anything that lets me accomplish the mission, stick something pointy in the Atlantic Federation's craw, and get paid at the same time is definitely a good thing, _he very carefully didn't add as he quickly departed and began looking for Miriallia.

That, however, was about the time that he realized that he had no idea where she was. A quick look in the students cabin revealed that she had apparently been there and left since her flight suit was abandoned on one of the bunks, and a trip down to the hanger revealed only an unholy amount of havoc complete with GINN parts floating around the hanger and crewmen attempting to retrieve them. There was only one other place that stood out in his mind as a possibility. _I guess a trip to the commissary is in order._

XXXXX

Miriallia had been startled to find Kira on the other side of the hanger bay's airtight door when it opened, but relief had almost immediately displaced surprise. With a glance back into the hanger, and something about wrench-happy mechanics, Kira had calmly led the way to the ship's cafeteria, all the while listening and responding to her nearly frantic babble. She had been amazed to learn that he didn't recognize the phrase 'Angel of Death,' or even 'Azrael.' Her exact words had been, 'What rock have you been hiding under?' He had protested that he was too busy with classes and the extra work that his professors piled on him to bother with the news very often. So, Mir had filled him in on what the media knew of their classmate's history with the Zodiac Alliance, which, admittedly, wasn't a lot. Thereafter, the conversation had devolved into the chatter of comfortable friends.

There were, of course, some awkward silences when a topic touched too closely on family or friends that might not be alive after the ZAFT attack on Heliopolis, or on life at the colony itself. However, as it usually does, the conversation served to dull the pain both of them were feeling. That was how David found them nearly half an hour later.

For a moment after he stepped into the doorway, he simply watched the pair interact. Mir was leaning forward, her elbows on the table, while she smiled at something Kira had said. Kira, on the other hand, was leaning back in his chair with a mock-serious expression while he told what was apparently quite a humorous story. _Good. _Contact like this was what would keep Kira grounded. It was quite obvious to David that Kira wasn't built, by either genetic design or nurture, to be capable of acting without considering the consequences. _At least, no more than any human is, _he silently amended as the amethyst-eyed coordinator finally broke into a grin. David would have preferred to simply let Kira and Mir talk; however, that wasn't in the cards. He had a feeling that things were about to get time-critical again. The Captain's offhand comment that she'd expected the people at Artemis to argue more had had time to register during his search, and it was setting off all sorts of alarm bells as he considered it. He figured that there was about a one in ten chance that Artemis was going to try and blow them up with their guard down, a two in ten chance that they were simply idiots which, admittedly, wasn't out of the question, they were after all assigned to a backwater base with no real strategic importance. However, it was the remaining seventy percent chance that had him worried. He was almost certain that they were walking into a trap.

"Hey, Mir," David said from his place leaning against the door jamb, grinning slightly as both of the other pilots jumped. "We're about to have a problem, and I need to get you prepped."

"What?" Mir asked blankly staring at him, "I thought we were docking at a friendly base?"

David's small grin began to vanish. "Yeah, well, friendly might be going a little far." At the pair's uncomprehending looks, he continued, "We're aboard an unregistered ship without the proper I.D. codes, since they were only supposed to be issued once the final shakedown cruise was finished. Besides, they doubtlessly have long-range sensor contacts from our battle that a blind man could see have to be Mobile Suits, and everyone knows that only ZAFT has them." David shrugged. "Besides, you should also probably lock the Stormcrow down so some inspector doesn't press something he shouldn't. We can talk on the way." He then altered his focus. "You too Kira. Can you imagine some REMF bumping the trigger for the Strike's CIWS?" he shot out with the smile growing on his face again, only to be met with a stony glare from his coordinator friend.

"I'll put a lock on the system, Dave, but you and I need to have a long talk. Soon." Kira said as he walked out the commissary's door towards the hanger.

_Some resentment there, _David considered, a slight grimace replacing his earlier smile, _not that I blame him. In his shoes, I'd be pissed at me too. _

Instead of dwelling on Kira's attitude, the cobalt-eyed coordinator shifts his vision to Miriallia and cocks his left eyebrow. "Well?"

Mir immediately steps forward and pokes him, hard, right on his breastbone. "What he said goes for me too. We need to discuss informing one's partner about things she might need to know when she's flying into combat!" she continued, mashing her finger into his sternum repeatedly for emphasis. With one final poke she turned and left the cafeteria without a backwards glance. "Now, what was it that you needed to talk to me about?"

David just shook his head at the absolute confusion a female could invoke in him seemingly effortlessly and followed. "Our cover story, actually." Before he could continue, Mir interrupted.

"Wait a minute, if it's about that, don't we need Kira here?"

David shot a look at her. "I'm getting to that. The Strike was slated as an Earth Forces machine, the cover won't work for him, besides no one would believe it for him anyway. Our cover is that we're mercenaries from ORB that joined up with the Archangel in the chaos because they were the side that wasn't shooting at us." Mir's eyebrows shot up.

"And people are supposed to believe that I'm a mercenary?" she asked in an incredulous voice. David merely grinned.

"Just glare at them like you were glaring at me a minute ago, and they'll find somewhere else to be STAT," he shrugged, "Anyway, they know someone was flying the 'Crow in the last battle, though they won't have any radio data 'cuz of the jammers. They'll just assume that you're a coordinator, so long as you don't contradict them." A frown filtered across David's face. "And in this day and age, Coordinators have to grow up fast," Miriallia couldn't seem to find an answer to that.

The pair of pilots arrived at the hanger after only a moment of silence and Mir got her first view of the vivisected GINN. Her eyebrows shot up and she reflexively glanced at her wrist chrono. "How long have they had that thing? Two hours?"

David just smiled, "Closer to three, I think. I don't believe I've ever seen a more capable group of mechanics." The coordinator continued on towards his Mobile Suit with Mir following behind. "We really don't have time to go into any great detail right now, but all that you need to tell anyone who asks is that we were contracted by Morgenroete to help with the development of these mobile suits, and then by the Orb government to fly them for the Heliopolis Colony Defense Force," he explained. As they reached the Devastator's docking slip, David reached up, and began to roll the right sleeve of his shirt up revealing the flat, double-edged blade sheathed in the quick-drop harness.

"You'll also need this." he says as he unlatches the straps and begins to roll her right sleeve up, "If someone tries to start anything with you, lay the edge of this up against something important and try to look menacing," he grins a bit as he finishes tightening the leather harness.

A short lesson later, and David kicks off to double check the lockdown program on his Gundam, "Alright, Mir" he says as he lands on the underside of the upper hatch, "I want you to practice drawing and sheathing that for the next fifteen or twenty minutes. After that, you'll want to find a comfortable spot in the commissary. If I'm right, you could be there for quite a while."

"And where will you be during all of this?" Mir, still hovering near the Gundam's knee joint demands.

David sticks his head back out over the Mobile Suit's opened hatch. "I'll be briefing the crew on our cover story. And, Mir," he says with an absolutely serious expression, "after that, you'll be far, far happier not knowing,"

XXXXX

Kira had decided to go to the room he and the other students from Heliopolis had shared earlier instead of preceding directly to the Hanger when he left the ship's Cafeteria. He took just enough time to wash his face and scrub most of the grease and oil of his hands before changing out of the coveralls he'd borrowed from the mechanics' supplies when he'd discovered that he needed to go spelunking inside his Gundam's knee, and into an Earth Forces Volunteer uniform that someone had presumably left on his bunk for him.

He was, in fact, still working at the unfamiliar cuffs as he exited his room and Commander La Flaga literally pulled him aside.

"Sorry, I forgot to mention this earlier, what with the meeting and all. Put a lock on the Strike's activation program," the Hawk of Endymion said in a low pitched voice that wouldn't carry to the next room, much less the length of the corridor, "Make sure that no one can operate that machine but you," he said somberly.

Kira's left eyebrow shot up. Hearing a piece of advice from someone only a little older than him was one thing, but to hear it from a distinguished veteran was quite another. "You and David seem to have a similar impression of the base we're docking at. If it's a friendly base, then why go to the trouble?" the young coordinator asked.

Mwu sighed at Kira's question. "The situation isn't as cut and dried as we'd like. Artemis is a Eurasian base, but this ship was designed and built by the Atlantic Federation. Besides, Eurasia isn't exactly in the inner councils of the Atlantic Federation, so they won't even be able to receive conformation of our identity by calling someone farther up the chain of command the way a Federation base could," the Lieutenant shook his head. "In any case, I believe in being prepared for the worst that could happen. That way any surprises that we run into will be pleasant ones,"

The Hawk left Kira standing in the middle of the corridor, suddenly deep in thought about what his best friend had been forced to deal with during his time with ZAFT that had made him concentrate so fully on the safety of his comrades, even to the extent that he discerned a need and took steps to fill it more quickly than even the renowned pilot of the last Zero.

Kira sighed as his head came to rest on the bulkhead behind him. _Maybe I shouldn't be as hard on him as I'd planned when we have that talk later._

XXXXX

The Captain of the Archangel looked at the telltales above the blast door only a scant meter in front of where she and Natarle stood. Murrue was waiting, as patiently as possible, for the Archangel's internal elevator to carry the inspecting officer that Artemis had sent up to the Bridge, and the process seemed to be taking longer than it needed to just to spite her, and even the very interesting conversation that she'd had with David a few minutes before wasn't enough to occupy her mind at the moment.

Murrue had never had the mixed pleasure of welcoming a higher-ranking officer on board her ship before. _Mostly, _her mostly hidden sarcastic streak declared, _because you've never commanded a ship before. _As a Lieutenant, Ms. Murrue Ramius wouldn't have even been qualified to act as the _XO_ of a ship as large and advanced as a member of the Archangel Class. _Heck, _she admitted to herself, _I'm barely qualified to sit on the bridge of a ship like this. _

That was also true. Murrue had specialized in Engineering, and not even as a combat engineer at that! She was uncomfortably aware that the Ensign standing beside and a precise half step behind her had logged easily five times the hours that she had on a warships bridge. The only reason that Natarle wasn't the commanding officer of the Archangel was that Murrue had her beaten by date of rank, even with the customary one grade advancement that would usually have allowed Combat personnel to give orders to non-combatants.

As the airtight doors finally rotated open, Murrue reflexively snapped off a salute that would have satisfied the strictest Drill Sergeant at Basic, she found herself wishing that she'd received her promotion a few weeks after she had so that Natarle would be the one taking the lion's share of the responsibilities that were headed her way. As the Lieutenant Commander in front of her returned her salute, Murrue allowed her own posture to relax slightly. "Welcome aboard, Sir, my apologies for the delay," She said formally, wishing that she'd had enough crewmen on board to meet him when he'd docked the way procedure dictated, "However, I'm afraid that we're running on less than a skeleton crew at the moment. After the incident at Heliopolis, we're very grateful that you've given us permission to enter the port," she admitted.

The Commander nodded in acknowledgment, and things appeared to be going well. For all of five minutes. The Archangel had no more than stopped moving when over two dozen Marines in bulky armored spacesuits took up positions around her ship while several boarding sleds full of men in identical suits headed for her airlocks.

"Well, Commander?!" Murrue demanded of the officer on her bridge.

The man calmly turned towards her. "I must advise you, 'Captain,' keep silent," The statement was clearly an order. Murrue stared at him in mixed irritation and nervousness for several moments, and was on the verge of demanding an explanation, rank or not when a half dozen of the Marines dashed through the hatch and onto the Archangel's bridge.

Flay gave a strangled yelp as one of them pointed a gun at her and yelled, "Don't move!" while Kuzzey just stared at them openmouthed.

By this time Lieutenant Ramius was beginning to move passed merely 'irritated' and on to 'seriously pissed,' "What are you _doing_?" she demanded, a frown crossing her features and was preparing to step forward when one of the soldiers shoved his gun in her face.

Natarle, always one for procedure, calmly inquired, "Lieutenant Commander Biddolf, I request an explanation for these actions," her self-control rigidly in place, she continued, "I assure you-"

"I'm only locking down the ship's Controls and Fire Control systems as part of our standard security measures," The Eurasian officer interrupted.

"Locking down?" Ensign Badgiruel shot back, "But there's no need for you-" she cut off abruptly as the marine that held Murrue in his sights shifted his target to her.

"Your vessel isn't recorded in the Ship Register," Bidoulf said by way of explanation, "naturally, we have no identification code for it. Given the circumstances, we permitted you entrance to our port, unfortunately it has yet to be determined if we recognize you as friendly."

"But that doesn't-" Natarle began to object before she was once again cut off by her superior officer.

"This is a military facility at the very least. I'd appreciate if you kept that in mind," he stated coldly. "Now, I'd like the officers to brief us on the current situation. You shall accompany me," he ordered as the marines began to usher the occupants of the bridge toward the elevator at the rear. Murrue and Natarle were separated from the others and escorted, along with Mwu La Flaga to the airlock that the Lieutenant Commander had used only a few minutes before.

XXXXX

Miriallia had done exactly what David had told her to do after a short conversation with the Stormcrow's AI, just to make sure that somebody that decided to meddle couldn't do a Dumb Thing with the mobile suit's weapons. She'd actually gotten fairly good at drawing and sheathing the blade in the partial gravity of Artemis's port before she'd tucked it away for one final time and headed for the cafeteria. She was relatively unsurprised five minutes later when seven armed and armored marines dashed, _Or as close to dashing as they can get bouncing in the reduced gravity that way,_ into the doorway. While everyone else was reacting to the shock, Mir simply shook her head in amazement. _How the heck did he know? _She wondered as the soldiers made sure that no one left the area and began to gradually fill in the empty seats with new arrivals. Miriallia looked across the table at Kira and shot him a small smile.

"I guess David was right again, huh?" she asked softly so as not to draw any unwanted attention from the men with guns. Kira just snorted.

"Yeah," he said wryly, "he seems to have an unfortunate habit of doing that," Kira shot her a grin that seemed to convey some lingering aggravation with his fellow Coordinator mixed with dry humor. For several minutes after that, they sat with Sai in companionable silence despite the five people with guns and very little apparent reluctance to use them standing only a few feet away.

XXXXX

David smirked at the idiotic Eurasian troops stomping along below him. _Not even one look at the life support systems. _He shook his head in amazement at the rampant stupidity of the Earth Forces. _They assume that any ZAFT Covert Operations ship that got this far would have their insertion team out in the open? As if. _Yet another trio of oblivious marines bounced past below him. _What sloppy procedure. _Not that he was complaining. Far from it in fact. He was quite happy to take advantage of their lax policy. His sense of professionalism was simply rebelling at the notion that any Commander could be quite this bad at planning and still be a Commander of anything but a leaky tub in some backwater. _Wait, this is a useless backwater base. That could explain it._ He snarked to himself as he counted off the seconds between each patrol's passage. This time, however, the sounds of booted feet came sooner than he'd expected. _No way somebody smart enough to randomize the patrol schedules would have made all the mistakes that these guys have. What are they up to? _When he found out, it was all he could do not to make some sound, and it was only by an act of sheer willpower that he was able to avoid bashing his skull off the side of the ventilation duct.

_Of all the damned, idiotic, absolutely stupid things not to think of- _David cut himself off mid-rant. He watched as the Captain, XO, and the Zero's pilot were all escorted towards the airlock. _Why did it not occur to me that they'd take the officer's off the ship for interrogation? _He'd assumed that the Eurasians would either contact the EA's Lunar Base and then let the Archangel and her crew go about their business once they received a favorable report, or keep the whole ship locked down and quarantined while they played games. Now David was reminded about what they said about assuming. _Stupid bastards_ _are actually taking people off the ship? Do they have any idea how easily a ZAFT commando team could turn the tables on them? _Now the same rank stupidity that he'd been lauding mere moments earlier was coming back to bite him in the ass.

_Alright, _he considered,_ I just need to change my plans a little bit._ Instead of hanging out on the off chance that Bad Things happened, he'd have to put himself in a position to act if the situation went to Hell in a Hand basket and the ship's officers needed to be extracted posthaste. _Another wonderful day in the Corps._

XXXXX

"The top secret project of the Atlantic Federation," Artemis's commanding officer, Admiral Garcia said as he looked over the surveillance photos and video of its arrival. "Who would have guessed that it'd jump right into our laps?"

"So, all of those rumors that have been circulating about Heliopolis were true after all," his second remarked as he too examined the ship.

Apparently coming to a decision the bald Admiral nodded and spoke, "We'll invite these people to remain here on an extended shore leave," anything further he would have said, however, was cut off by a nock at his office's door.

The intercom on his offices buzzed to life, "Excuse me, Sir, I've brought with me three officers from the unidentified vessel,"

A quick push of a button to clear the wallscreen behind him, and a resounding, "Yes, enter," proceeded the arrival of an impeccably dressed Lieutenant and Ensign, both wearing the standard Earth Forces female uniform and one male Lieutenant in a sweat stained uniform without a cap and non-regulation rolled up sleeves that the Admiral recognized instantly. "Greetings! Welcome to Artemis," he said as he stood and beckoned them towards a row of chairs lined up in front of his workstation/desk. A quick look at the computer's screen confirmed what he'd known since he saw the Hawk of Endymion. "Lieutenant Murrue Ramius, Ensign Natarle Badgiruel, and Lieutenant Mwu La Flaga," He read off the screen, giving the two women a casual glance just to make sure that their pictures and features matched. "Well, it would appear that your identification has been confirmed as authentic Atlantic Federation I.D.'s,"

Mwu in an attempt to be diplomatic, stated, "We apologized for any trouble we may have caused."

The Admiral simply waved as if to brush the statement from the air. "Think nothing of it, we needed a drill to keep us sharp. In any case," he continued leaning back slightly in his chair, "I'm well acquainted with your illustrious name. You're the one they call the Hawk of Endymion. I too saw my share of action while stationed at the Grimaldi Front."

Mwu cocked his head to the side minutely as he thought, "Oh? Then you were with Commodore Velar's unit?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"That's right," the Admiral acknowledged, "The battle may have ended in defeat for the Earth Forces, but your heroic feat in single-handedly taking out five GINNs gave us a sorely needed morale boost."

"It's very king of you to say, Sir," Mwu said with a small nod.

"However," the Commander continued, fishing for information "who would have dreamed that you of all people would inexplicably appear on that vessel,"

"I'm on a special mission, Sir, I'm sorry, but I'm unable to disclose any details at this time," The Hawk responded, keeping his voice level as he informed a superior officer that his assignment was classified need to know, and said superior didn't.

"I understand," Garcia said with a shrug of his shoulders, "but it'll be difficult to resupply you right away," he stated apologetically.

Murrue was concerned by this. "It's absolutely vital that we proceed to Lunar H.Q. as soon as humanly possible," she tried to explain, "As you know, we're being pursued by ZAFT,"

"By ZAFT?" the Admiral asked as he pressed a button on the console beside him. The wallscreen behind him immediately shifted to show the second of the ships that had ambushed them and one other Laurasia that they didn't recognize.

Natarle leaned forwards, "It's the Laurasia class?" she inquired of the world at large, silently wondering where the other one came from.

"As you can see," Garcia continued, "the ships have been roaming around outside the Umbrella, they've been there for a short while now. One or two vessels are of little concern to us here, though if you were resupplied, it'd mean that you'd still be unable to depart, wouldn't it?" he questioned in a slightly sardonic voice.

"They won't abandon their pursuit of the Archangel, we can not afford to remain here much longer and risk damage to Artemis,"

Though the Lieutenant's warning was serious, Admiral Garcia began to laugh softly before he'd even finished. "Did I hear you right?" he asked, disbelieving his own ears, "Damage to our base? They're powerless to do anything to us, and they'll eventually leave. It happens all the time," he said dismissively.

Mwu, in an attempt to provide as much information as he was allowed without breaking confidentiality, stepped forward, "With all due respect, Commandant, they-" he began before being cut of by the officer in question.

"At any rate," he said, unconcerned by the Hawk's attempted warning, "I recommend you get some R and R. You appear to be exhausted. I'll have your quarters prepared,"

Mwu, however, was still concerned, despite the faith that the Eurasian had in his base's defenses. "Commandant, couldn't we-" he tried to continue before being cut off again, this time by the Admiral's assistant opening the door behind them.

"We'll have a chance to get in touch with Lunar Headquarters after they leave. We'll make arrangements afterward," he concluded dismissing the three Atlantic Federation officers before him.

Mwu paused and turned back towards the Admiral before exiting, "You're that certain? Think Artemis is that safe?" he inquired. The Admiral just smiled.

"As safe as an infant in its mother's arms."

XXXXX

They could actually hear Murdoch before they saw him, "I've had it with you people!" The mechanic yelled as he rounded the corner into the commissary, glaring daggers at the Eurasian soldiers, his hands still placed firmly on his head. "Is this some kind of joke?" he demanded before being shoved into the compartment along with the others from the hanger bay.

Miriallia took a quick headcount of all the people onboard that she knew and discovered that all of them, with the notable exception of the senior officers and David were now present in the overcrowded Cafeteria. _Looks like that was the last of us then, _she considered as people tried in vain to find something resembling personal space in the packed compartment. She could barely hear Sai asking one of the bridge crew whose face she recognized, but that she couldn't put a name to about the situation, but she more or less tuned the conversation out. As a result, she missed the question that led up to Murdoch's somewhat paranoid but probably correct assertion that there was something fishy about the whole situation. _How did David know?_ once again resonated through her mind. This, in turn, again focused her thoughts on the throwing knife strapped to her right arm, and David's instructions on when and how to use it. She hoped fervently that neither would be needed, but the part of her mind that calmed her fear whenever she climbed into her mobile suit whispered that it _would_ be, and that she needed to be prepared for the moment it happened.

She remembered David's instructions. _'Threaten and bluster,'_ he'd said, _'but be prepared to use that knife to defend yourself if you have too. That intent is what will convince whoever's bothering you that you mean business. Remember, the best threats are not threats at all.'_ The Coordinator's words hadn't made sense at the time, but she was becoming uncomfortably certain that she knew what he meant.

However, before she could dwell on her own thoughts further, she was forced back into the real world by a nudge from Tolle. "Hey, Mir," he said, "they've let the cooks start serving dinner. You want some?"

Mir smiled at her sort-of boyfriend. "Sure, Tolle, I'd appreciate that," she said as he got up to get them each a tray. With him gone from between them, she was able to make eye contact with Kira for the first time since the Eurasian Marines had taken over. She could tell that he was listening to the conversation Murdoch and several other crewmen were having at the foot of the table, and his concerned expression bore witness to the fact that the situation they were in was making him uncomfortable.

_I wonder if he's thinking about David too? _she considered before deciding that it didn't matter at the moment. _After all, there's nothing that I can do about it until we can sit Dave down and beat some answers out of him._ Mir nearly jumped when Tolle sat her tray down in front of her. That was something that didn't go unnoticed by the brunette who'd been working as a Astrogation rating.

"What's wrong, Mir?" he asked softly, so as not to be heard by the Eurasians, "You've been out of it ever since I got here. Does it have something to do with Dave?"

"Yeah, it's like he could read their minds," she confided, "He knew exactly how they'd react to us. He even knew that they'd put us all in here after they secured the ship,"

"Well, he is a former ZAFT pilot. If anyone would know, he would."

Mir nodded wordlessly at that and tried not to think about all he ways whatever he was up to could go wrong.

XXXXX

"Sure the ship may be unregistered," Natarle ranted as she paced a circle around the perimeter of the sitting room in the four-room suite that they'd been given, "but this type of treatment is inexcusable!"

Mwu frowned at her from his seat on the couch, "There isn't much we can do. Right now those guys would much prefer that we didn't return to the ship." He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. "But there's something that concerns me even more: the fact that these soldiers here on Artemis have this unquestioning faith that they're secure against any enemy assault."

Murrue and Natarle both stopped to consider this. "The biggest problem is that they have good reason for their arrogance," Murrue said softly. "After all, their umbrella has always been impenetrable." By this time all three of them were silently thinking on the data they had reviewed about the third prototype. None of them dared mention it where the guards or listening devices could hear, but all of them were wondering if ZAFT would be smart enough to use the Blitz's abilities to full advantage.

"I think that we'd best be prepared to leave as soon as the Umbrella comes down," Mwu spoke, looking at the others carefully to make sure that they'd read his intent correctly. If Artemis fell, they'd be ready to head back to the Archangel and get here clear.

XXXXX

Nicol stood on the bridge of the Gamow, outwardly calm. Inside, however, he felt ready to burst. _I don't know whether to scream and punch things, or break down and cry._ One of the constants in his universe had been removed from its place. _The PLANTs Climate Control Systems will have the day's weather as scheduled. The solar shades will be retracted in the morning. David will be there if I need him._ Now he discovered just how wrong he'd been. _What happened Dave? You told me you'd resigned, not that you were going to be working for the enemy! How could you join the Earth Forces?_ When he'd received his cousin's letter that day he hadn't been terribly surprised. David had been dissatisfied with the politics in the PLANTs for months. Supreme Council Member Patrick Zala's rise to power had not impressed David in the least. _'That idiot doesn't understand why we're fighting this war,' _had been one of his cousin's favorite statements when they saw Zala on the news.

In part, Nicol couldn't help but agree. After all, he and David certainly weren't interested in wracking up a body count. Though both of them had done their fare share of fighting, that wasn't what they lived for. For Nicol, his music would always occupy first place in his heart. The fact that he had the power to inspire others, to entertain, and to make people forget, for just an hour or two, that they were fighting for their lives, was his greatest joy. For David, that goal was justice. He wanted to be able to look in his mirror each day and say 'I did what I felt I had to do, and I did it to the best of my ability,'

However, David had been blind to the fact that Patrick Zala did speak for a large and ever growing part of ZAFT with his anti-natural rhetoric. David had never been accused of being the sharpest tool in the shed. Sure he was smart, all coordinators were, if they applied themselves to their schooling even a little, but he was quite capable of blinding himself to something he didn't want to see. Nicol had always considered it unfortunate that the only time his cousin's blinders truly came off was on the battlefield. David, at an instinctual level, wanted to assume the best about people. He trusted people until they proved that they weren't trustworthy. In the world that they lived in, that was a weakness. One that meant that he'd been truly blindsided by the revelation that ZAFT was becoming increasingly radical and irrational in its policy towards naturals.

It was, on the other hand, one of the things that made him such an excellent commander. David hadn't been the best mobile suit pilot in ZAFT, though he was in the top ten, nor was he the best tactician, though he was also more than adequate in that capacity. His strategical thinking was horrendous, and the logistics officers that tried to keep up with him along the Grimaldi Front told some real horror stories about their time on the lunar surface. What made David the ideal commander was his ability to trust. He didn't throw tantrums when things went poorly in training or on the field, he simple pulled the offender aside and spoke to them about it away from their teammates. He didn't embarrass, berate, or belittle the people under his command. He trusted them to be able to get it right when it counted, and he treated them like equals. And ninety percent of the people that he came into contact with loved him for it. If he had told the Seraphs that he was leading a charge into Hell, they would have followed him right through the Hot Gates of Hades.

Nicol grimaced as a face appeared on the bridge's communication screen and the strategy meeting got underway. _Well, most of them would have anyway, _Raziel aka John Tyler spoke, "Let's get this underway,"

The captain of the Gamow activated the holo tank on the ship's bridge and waited momentarily as it displayed the Umbrella of Artemis in exacting detail, "This so-called Umbrella blocks all lasers and projectiles coming at it, though the same can be said for anything coming out,"

"So," Dearka interrupted, "what it comes down to is that they won't be attacking us. What a perfectly lame invention."

Yzak shot a quelling glance at his subordinate and the Captain continued, "Correct, though as a perfectly defensive weapon it is quite an achievement. This base hasn't had any strategic importance, so up to this point our forces have pretty much ignored it. At present we don't have the ability to break through their defenses. They're holed up in a tricky spot."

Raziel leaned forward in his seat. "Thank you for the history lesson, Captain. However, your information is somewhat out of date. Command received word a week ago that three mobile suit prototypes were being constructed here. We've been hiding out behind these asteroids for five days analyzing their patterns for a weakness. Otherwise it would have been us at Heliopolis, not the Le Creuset team," the former Seraph stated arrogantly.

Nicol shot a look at Yzak who appeared to be physically and metaphorically biting his tongue to keep from opening his mouth and saying something he shouldn't. But something about Raziel's last statement resonated in Nicol's mind. "But the Umbrella doesn't really stay open all the time," he ventured cautiously his mind kicking into gear on the Umbrella's only weakness.

"No," Raziel stated, "It only remains open when enemy ships are in the area," he shot a look at Nicol, "We've already tried turning around and heading back once it drops, they just raise it again before we get into range. They also don't have any exploitable gaps in their sensor coverage," he concluded.

Nicol nodded. "My machine, the Blitz, just might be able to give us the advantage we need to pull this off," he stated, noting peripherally that everyone on the bridge was looking at him expectantly. "It has the same phase-shift armor as the other models, but it has another interesting feature,"

"Well, don't keep us in suspense," Raziel said when Nicol paused to think.

"Sorry," the emerald-haired Coordinator said, running through some mental calculations on mass and thrust. "Blitz is equipped with a system called the Mirage Colloid. It uses a synthetic particle to disperse electromagnetic waves. It makes the Blitz totally undetectable by visual or electronic means," The whole room was silent, not even Raziel said anything as they all struggled to absorb the information that Nicol had just imparted to them. "I think that I can carry four people on the back of the suit without disrupting the field enough for us to be seen. If the Gamow can get out of range and get them to drop the Umbrella, then we could get inside before they know we're there. Again, if my calculations are correct," Nicol said looking at the former Seraph in the monitor, "You should have ten minutes inside before the gas dispersion makes the system ineffective."

Raziel rallied, "Ten minutes should be more than enough to locate the storage area for the three mobile suits, even for just the four of us. How long do you think it'll take to prepare this?"

Nicol began to pick at his lower lip with his teeth as he considered the situation. "I think I can be outside your ship ready to pick you up in about half an hour if we start to move off in the next few minutes," he stated after a few moments of contemplation.

"Alright then. We need to get moving before they can come up with a way to counter our new trump card," Raziel said with a small expression of approval for the emerald-tressed member of the Le Creuset team. "Let's be about it then,"

XXXXX

The Command Center of Artemis was a scene of typical military precision, outwardly at least. Everyone knew their tasks and went about them quickly and efficiently. As Admiral Garcia sat at the command station overlooking the room, he felt more or less content. His base had been selected to build Eurasia's three mobile suit prototypes, and he'd just come into possession of three of the Atlantic Federation's models. He wouldn't be able to justify keeping them or that magnificent ship within the Umbrella for long, but anything he could learn about them could be used to improve the abilities of his government's mobile weapons, and that would serve to make him look better to his superiors.

At that precise moment, his communications panel chirped, "Yes, what is it?" he asked the brown haired Petty Officer that appeared on the comm. screen.

"The ZAFT Laurasia class ships are leaving the area, Yellow eighteen Mark twenty Charlie. Distance 700 and increasing steadily," The sensor tech responded quickly.

"Very good. I'll leave it to Rize to handle it. Continue to maintain surveillance of the area," Garcia ordered as the hatch behind him slid open. He turned slightly to take his assistant's salute as the PO on the screen acknowledged his orders and signed off. "Find anything interesting?"

"Sir, it's proceeding smoothly," the junior officer responded. "We're still in the process of examining the unregistered vessel; however, about the Mobile Suits," he hesitated.

"Well, what is it?" Garcia asked impatiently.

"All three models are locked down through different means, and two of the models are registered in the logs as property of the Orb Union. The Earth Forces machine has a locking program added to the activation software, and we're unable to even analyze it, much less route around it." He continued.

"What!" Garcia demanded, irritated that his plan was stalling now after proceeding so smoothly.

"We've got all of our technicians working on it, however, the situation with the Orb machines is even worse. Their second prototype won't even acknowledge that we exist. Any attempts to approach the machine result in it sealing and polarizing all of its access points against what it apparently considers unauthorized entry." Again, the Admiral's aide pauses. "As for the other model, no one will go anywhere near it,"

"Why not?" Garcia asked with false calm. He was obviously trying very hard not to blow up at the messenger.

"Well, Sir, it had this note stuck to the combination lock on the outside." He said as he extended the piece of paper.

Garcia took one look at the paper and blanched thinking of the possible consequences if whoever had written it was telling the truth. The note said:

"_Dear Eurasian Federation flunky,_

_While I understand that the opportunity to take apart one of the Orb union's newest pieces of hardware is probably irresistible to you, I'd like to advise you to look before you leap. It would be terrible if this Mobile Suit were to accidentally self-detonate because someone did something it didn't like."_

Garcia swallowed, "Can you confirm that its self-destruct system is active?" he asked.

"No, Sir," his aide responded, "we haven't even tried to open the outer hatch for fear of setting it off,"

Garcia began to recover from the near-heart attack he'd suffered when he'd realized just how close he'd come to having his career ruined. _If that Mobile Suit had exploded, it would have taken out both of the other models and the Moebius Zero, not to mention gutted the entire hanger. I'd never have been able to explain that to the Lunar Base._

"You said that all of your technicians are working on the Earth Forces prototype?" Garcia asked quickly, his mind focusing on what he could do instead of what he couldn't.

"Yes, Sir," his aide responded.

"Well, then, let's see what we can shake loose on that ship,"

XXXXX

David moved carefully in the gravity that had appeared after the Archangel presumably docked in Artemis's port. He was currently crawling along the inside of the umbilical attached to the bottom of the Archangel and transferring clean air to the Assault Carrier. Once again the laziness of the Eurasians was proving to be of great value to him. However, due to the way the port was set up, he was effectively crawling down a vertical surface headfirst. Slipping and falling God-knows how many meters wasn't on his list of things to do for the day. However, he figured that he was probably in good shape by this point, as he continued inching down the vertical shaft's smooth sides. They probably weren't guarding their end of the atmosphere recycling conduit, and even if they were he was pretty confident that he could slip past them without being seen.

_The question is, 'How am I going to find the Captain and the others once I get onboard Artemis?' _The best he'd been abler to come up with was hacking a computer terminal to get the information, but to do that he'd need to find one isolated enough that nobody was going to take a stroll past and notice him. That would take time that he might not have. As would deciphering the schematics and getting to the room that they'd been put in.

_I really, really hope that ZAFT's willing to give me enough time to get this finished before they attack. _And David didn't doubt that they would attack. The Blitz's Mirage Colloid would give them the advantage that they needed to penetrate the Lightwave Barrier that Artemis generated. They'd already destroyed a civilian colony. A military base with inadequate defenses wouldn't provide much of a challenge for elite pilots like the Le Creuset team or the Fallen Ones.

XXXXX

Mir had been trying to think of something other than their predicament when she heard the two guards at the door snap to attention. She very carefully shoots a look over her shoulder and winces at what she sees. _I may not be real familiar with Alliance rank insignia, _she thinks, _but that looks serious. _Both guard's backs are as straight as fence posts, and their gaze doesn't waver at all as the obviously high-ranking official walks between them. The man gazes arrogantly about the crowded cafeteria.

"Who among you are the pilots and mechanics of the three Mobile Suits on board this ship?" the bald officer demanded.

"The pilots and mechanics of the Mobile Suits. They're here aren't they?" The blond man beside him asked challengingly.

Kira reflexively began to stand up. He was, however, stopped mid-motion by Murdoch. Mir winced yet again. _Yeah, this is definitely going to get ugly. _Mir thought as she watched the action in the glass surface of the wallscreen.

"Why are you asking us this?" Arnold Neumann, the Archangel's ranking NCO demanded in return.

"What?" the bald man's presumed assistant questioned elegantly.

The Petty Officer clarified, "Is it because the Captain and our Officer's didn't think to mention it? Or are you not permitted to ask?"

"Why you-" the blond began as he grabbed Neumann's collar.

"Enough," the bald one interceded waving for his subordinate to let go of the Atlantic Federation crewman. "That's right. We're well aware that you're elite personnel of the Atlantic Federation who have been selected for this top secret military project."

"What is it that you're planning to do with the G-weapons?" Neumann asks somewhat more politely, aware that he is now speaking to a ranking officer. Miriallia, on the other hand, was breaking out in a cold sweat.

_So they are here about the Mobile Suits, _she thought, keeping her eyes focused firmly forward and away from the confrontation behind her.

"We're not planning to do anything with them. The fact of the matter is that we feel privileged to be granted the opportunity to see them before they're officially announced." The officer explained in what even Mir could tell was a strained tone. "Who are the pilots?" He continued, his carefully measured tone slipping slightly from his hold.

"Lieutenant La Flaga was piloting our prototype," one of the maintenance men said from his position leaning up against the wall.

"If you have any questions about it," Murdoch chimed in, "why don't you address them to him?"

The ranking officer smiled snidely as he spoke, "We monitored the battle you fought on your way to this base. Someone was handling the Zero with its gunbarrels. There's only one person capable of such a thing, and that's him," he said before a dark grin found its way onto his face. Even as he finished speaking, he began to step towards her table.

_Sometimes I hate being right. _was the statement that flashed through Miriallia's mind before his hand clamped down on her right shoulder and dragged her to her feet. It was all she could do not to cry out as his arm twisted hers roughly behind her.

"Miriallia!" she vaguely heard Tolle say as he began to stand up.

She didn't doubt that he'd try something suitably heroic and ultimately pointless if she didn't do something herself. She abruptly realized that she should probably be terrified right now. If her assumptions were anywhere close to right, she was about to pull a knife on an officer who ranked so far up the chain of command that looking down would give lesser mortals nose bleeds.

But now that the time to act was upon her, she found that she was totally calm. The same part of her that forced her to think rationally when she fought with the Stormcrow was supporting her now. She seemed to drift in a sea of quiet. She heard the Officer's condescending remark about her being the Strike's pilot and she saw Kira begin to stand up before being pushed down again by the Chief Mobile Suit Technician, but they simply drifted past her unable to penetrate the artificial tranquility around her.

Her right hand closed around the hilt of the throwing knife that David had strapped around her arm. She didn't remember triggering the set of muscles that dropped it from its place, and she almost dropped it in a flash of momentary surprise. Instead, she rotated the blade in her hand so that instead of hanging forward uselessly it rested lightly against the inside of the man's leg roughly a foot above his knee, and what would be uncomfortably close to several important parts of his anatomy. When she spoke she barely recognized her own voice. "I would appreciate it if you took your hands off of me, Eurasian,"

XXXXX

"I would appreciate it if you took your hands off of me Eurasian," Mir said as she shot a look over her shoulder that could probably have stripped paint off the bulkheads. Kira watched in a sort of stunned amazement as the man with Admiral's rank insignia stiffened and very slowly let go of her. A glint of light flashed off of metal, but the object vanished too quickly for him to get a good look at it. The guards were wondering what had happened, and were apparently trying to decide whether or not to bring their guns to bear, but the Admiral had an expression on his face that seemed to indicate that the puppy he'd thought that he had grabbed had turned, rather abruptly, into a rather irritated wolf.

"As for your question," Mir said her voice absolutely calm, "I am not the pilot of the Strike. I pilot the Stormcrow,"

The Admiral took a quick look at her clothes, "But you're not in any sort of uniform. Is there no disciple on board this ship?" He asked, ignoring for the moment that he had been the one to drag her to her feet, uniform or not.

Miriallia responded with another paint-peeling glare. "Sorry for not having a uniform at hand," she said condescendingly, "When ZAFT attacked Heliopolis, I was off duty. It was all my partner and I could do to get Devastator and Stormcrow out of Morgenroete before it blew."

"You mean you're with Orb's military?" the admiral shot back disdainfully thinking it was a trick. "Not even Orb would have someone as young as you in their armed forces unless-" he cut off suddenly as his eyes grew wide, but before he could say what was on his mind Miriallia interrupted.

"Military identification number two-seven-three-three-five-seven-one," She shot out, "Miriallia Renard. Most recently of the Heliopolis Defense Force, previously a member of CERBERUS."

Kira hadn't the faintest idea what that meant, but it obviously sealed the Admiral's suspicions and he took an involuntary step back. He muttered under his breath before shaking himself out of his surprise. After all, he still had hopes of accessing the Strike even if he couldn't learn from the others. "In any case, I still need to know who the pilot of the Strike is. It would be unfortunate if someone were to be injured while we were looking for that person,"

Mir's eyes narrowed, and she was about to shoot back some comment, but Kira, outraged, beat her to it, "I'm the pilot of that Mobile Suit," he said as he brushed Murdoch's hands away from his shoulders. _This has gone far enough, _Kira thought as he stepped forward, _I won't let someone else get hurt to protect me._

"Get serious twerp, you couldn't pilot that mobile suit," he began before stopping in mid thought apparently thinking better of whatever action he had planned. Kira, in fact, could see the proverbial light bulb turn on. "So," he said, a small smile breaking over his lips, "You're like her, aren't you?" the Admiral asked rhetorically, nodding his head towards Miriallia, and for a moment Kira didn't understand.

_He thinks she's a coordinator? _The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. _And she couldn't have come up with all of that by herself . . . David? Is this your doing? _Kira's mood combined equal parts annoyance and surprise at the former ZAFT ace's cunning. Outwardly, though, there was only a momentary flash of unreadable emotion across his face. "If you mean, 'Am I a Coordinator?' then the answer is yes," Kira stated, his irritation with the Eurasian officer coming through in his voice. The OMNI soldiers in the room began to bring their guns up before the Admiral's raised hand stopped them.

"I suspected as much. Now, if you'd come with us?" Kira didn't like what he saw in the officer's eyes, but he didn't have much of a choice. The not-quite-subtle threats he'd made left Kira's hands tied. _But . . . _"Could you at least move the guards in here to the outside of this room? There are civilians here after all,"

Kira could see the Admiral open his mouth to deny the request before stopping and thinking for a moment. Surprisingly, he shot a look at Miriallia before he spoke, "I don't see what harm it could do. Very well," he declared.

XXXXX

Mir remained standing until the last of the guards had followed Kira and the officers out the cafeteria's door. Only then did she surrender to her shaking knees and return to her seat. _Oh God, oh God, oh God. _"I can't believe I did that," she said, her voice barely audible. Her hands began to shake as the adrenaline that had been carrying her slipped away. Tolle grabbed her hands and just held them.

"Hey, Mir, it's okay. You were great! That Earth Forces officer was totally scared out of his boots!" Tolle said encouragingly, becoming more and more excited with each word.

"But it didn't work," she responded in a near wail her voice miserable. At the confused looks Tolle, Sai, and the others shot her, she elaborated, "It was supposed to scare them off so they wouldn't split us up," she explained, remembering what little David had told her of his plan. "David thought that mentioning CERBERUS would scare them off, but it didn't,"

All the others sat there in shock for a moment before Tolle hesitatingly guessed, "So, now Kira's off by himself where he could be used as a hostage against us, and where we can be used as a hostage against him?"

"Yeah," Mir answered before laying her head down on the table and continuing to shake from stress and sudden fatigue.

XXXXX

Nicol watched the screen in his Mobile Suit carefully as he took in the data the sensors relayed to him about Artemis. So, it was with both great anticipation and great nervousness that he saw the Lightwave Barrier go down. His eyes flashed toward his controls and saw what he'd expected. "This is Nicol Amalfi. I have green across the board. Engaging Mirage Colloid and moving out," he reported before slipping out of the hanger doors and into space. He hit his thrusters and slid directly in front of the Fallen Ones' carrier, the Edison. It took only moments for Raziel and his strike force to attach themselves to the Blitz, and for a quick check from the Edison and Gamow's sensors to confirm that none of their body heat was leaking through before Nicol turned and hit his thrusters again, this time as hard as he dared with passengers. His course was dead on for the Eurasian Military Satellite Artemis.

"Dispersion loss rate is holding at thirty-seven percent, set timer for eighty minutes, I repeat eight-zero minutes on my mark . . . mark." He said as his left hand toggled the control on the Blitz's control panel.

"Mission timer set. Seven-nine minutes and counting," Raziel confirmed as the Blitz began to build delta-vee(Note: means change in velocity).

A part of Nicol hoped that he'd gotten his numbers wrong, and that they wouldn't make it inside the umbrella. That he wouldn't have to fight his cousin. But he pushed that aside. He didn't know why his cousin was fighting for the other side, but he had his duty. He _would_ protect the PLANTs from any threat, even if that meant doing battle with family.

XXXXX

Kira walked into the Archangel's hanger bay, and up to the docking slip where the Strike was being examined. The Alliance Admiral and his Aide a bare meter behind him. "So," he said once he'd taken a quick look at the mobile suit, "you want me to remove the lock on the OS, right?"

"For starters," the bald Eurasian responded with a with a grin that seemed somehow sinister, "but I imagine you're capable of doing many other things,"

"What do you mean?" Kira shot back, becoming increasingly apprehensive with the situation.

"For example," he answered, "you could analyze that machine and help us build one that could equal or even surpass it," the grin was definitely sinister now, reflecting a malevolence at odds with polite words.

"Look, I'm nothing more than a civilian student." Kira explained, "I'm not a soldier and I'm not some military contractor. There's no reason why I have to do any of those things,"

The grin on the OMNI officer's face never shifted; though he knew Kira was a non-combatant from a neutral colony, he didn't seem to care. "But you're already a traitor to your fellow Coordinators, are you not?"

Kira hadn't thought of it quite that way before, "Me? A traitor?" he repeated, hurt by the casual way that the Admiral had brought it up. But as thought of fighting Athrun flashed through his mind, he found that he couldn't deny it.

"-no idea what your reasons were, but regardless you did betray your own people, didn't you? And so, by rights-" Kira had missed the first part of the Eurasian's statement, but he caught the gist of what he was saying an gave himself a mental shake.

"You're wrong! I did it 'cause-" Kira began only to be cut off as the man opposite him simply continued as though he hadn't spoken.

"A Coordinator siding with the Earth Forces makes you very valuable. There's nothing to worry about, I assure you that someone like yourself would be made welcome, even in Eurasia," Hours later, Kira would still remember that terrible grin, and the poorly disguised glee in the older man's voice.

So, without further ado, Kira was 'escorted' up to the Strike's cockpit by a pair of gun-toting Marines. Kira glared at the pair from under his eyelashes as he typed away at the Mobile Suit's keyboard, jumping through the elaborate hoops that he'd set up to protect the Gundam's operating system.

XXXXX

David had, after an eternity of searching, finally found a computer terminal in a secondary corridor that, judging by the grime on the deck, hadn't been inspected in months, much less used. The Earth Forces had updated their firewalls in light of a Coordinator's advanced ability with computers, but there was only so much they could do to protect a server when the person hacking it was physically inside the facility. David isolated the security software with just a few keystrokes and a program from a jump drive he habitually kept on his person. It took less than a minute after that for him to get back out and reset the terminal before logging in with legitimate Administrator privileges.

That, however, was the easy part. Artemis's control and data storage systems were massive. To physically look through them would have taken far longer than David had, so instead, he employed a second program, this one to search out information according to a set of keywords. In this case, he instructed it to cross-reference access to Atlantic Federation personnel information within the last two hours with reports of Mobile Suits or the Archangel. This led him directly to the base Commander's personal computer. From there it was relatively easy to determine where the 'guests' were being kept. Within minutes he was out of the system and back into the ventilation ducts with half of an idea how to get to where Murrue, Natarle, and Mwu were being held. That, however, is when Murphy apparently decided that he was having too much uninterrupted fun. David took a moment to look out as he passed an outflow grate. He froze in surprise at what he saw.

A red uniform had just darted around the corner a dozen yards down the hallway, and there were five corpses laying on the deck a pair of meters away with expanding pools of blood around them. _Not five. _David exited the environmental system as quickly and silently as possible. He'd hoped to check on the sole survivor, stabilize him, and then move on, but as soon as he got close the man whipped his head towards him. David was prepared to run, so his surprise at what the man said was understandable.

"Commander?" the voice was faint and hesitant, but still understandable. "Commander, ZAFT, they're-" the man broke off in a bought of coughing. By the time he finished, a trail of red had begun to run from the corner of his mouth.

_He's hallucinating, _David thought, _he must be worse off than he looks. _"Don't worry-" a look at the soldier's collar insignia, "Petty Officer, I'm gonna' get a med team down here to patch you up and-"

"No time, Sir," the man said. As he struggled to breath, David could hear the distinctive wheeze of a rib-punctured lung.

_He's right, _David conceded, _no way he'll last long enough for them to get here. _

The Petty Officer took a couple breaths to pull himself together. "There's only one reason," a labored breath, "that a ZAFT covert team would be here," a pair of breaths, they were becoming increasingly shallow and difficult. The Soldier reached up and took hold of his upper arm. "They moved one of the three Hyperion models," he said and several threads came together in David's mind. "It's in the secondary test facility," a grimace appeared on his face and a small cough passed his lips as the light began to dim behind his eyes. "Don't know where; can't let them have," the man's hand gripped tightly around his arm once more before falling away.

David took only a moment to make up his mind. A second terminal produced the information he needed within moments, and he took off down the corridor as quickly as he could towards a room the base schematics had labeled 'Secondary Experimental Test Center.'

XXXXX

Nicol frowned as he looked at the mission timer on the Blitz's secondary screen. According to it, he had less than four minutes before the Mirage Colloid gave out entirely. The trip over from the Gamow had been uneventful. Boring even. He'd simply accelerated to a good closing velocity and drifted the rest of the way, relying on his built up momentum to carry him the rest of the distance. He'd also taken longer than he'd thought to decelerate at the end of the trip, and he'd nearly overshot the base. However, he'd lucked onto a small maintenance hatch on the outer surface of the asteroid, and the insertion team had been inside within moments.

That had been nearly six minutes before, and, in another few seconds, he was scheduled to get his portion of the party started. The time ticked away rapidly; a tone sounded when the Mirage Colloid's timer ran down to two minutes and Nicol opened fire.

XXXXX

Kira had only just finished with the last of the locks when a shock ran through the ship, and, apparently, the station on which the ship was docked. Below his perch in the Gundam's cockpit, Kira heard the Admiral speaking, presumably into a communicator of some sort. "Control room, report on the cause of these tremors," he demanded imperially. Kira couldn't hear what the control room said in response, but he did catch the Eurasian's return statement. "Well, I'm guessing they're explosions! It's got to be a long-range bombardment! Activate the Umbrella! What're you doing up there?" This time Kira caught the control room's panicked response.

"Mobile suit in our defense area! Our reflectors are being destroyed!" At that point Kira stopped listening.

"An attack?" it took him mere moments to decide on a course of action. _I might not like flying into battle, but I'll be damned if I let ZAFT sink the Archangel. _A moment after the decision was made, Kira leapt into motion. A swift kick from genetically enhanced muscles sent the guard sprawling out of the cockpit hatch and a single push of a button had it closed and sealed behind him. He had the Gundam moving towards the catapult within moments. A voice on his external pickups caught his attention. It was the Eurasian Admiral.

"You traitor!" Kira's face twisted in a grimace of disgust as he hit the suit's speakers.

"We're under attack, aren't we? I don't have time for your nonsense!" he responded promptly to the officer's statement. Kira walked the Strike onto the catapult launch system and sighed gratefully as the heavily automated system came to life around him. _Good, it seems like someone with a brain is on the bridge. _The Archangel's robotic arms quickly and efficiently installed the standard Sword Striker pack. _Here goes nothing, _Kira thought as he hit his Gundam's thrusters and boosted out of the Archangel's newly opened port catapult hatch.

XXXXX

As the first tremors rocked the ship, Tolle looked up from his place beside Miriallia, "Are we being bombed?" Mir too was concerned, but she also wasn't sure what to do.

Arnold Neumann walked towards the door, and arrived just as the guards were stepping back inside. "Why's the alarm going off?" he demanded in his best Command Voice.

The Eurasian marine demonstrated both his remarkable wit and control with his graciously stated, "Well, uh, it's probably-"

Second Class Petty Officer Jackie Tonomura jumped in, "You mean _you're _not even sure?"

"Then don't you think you should go and ask?" Neumann demanded, "Whatever you think, we're obviously under attack," he stated as he shoved his way past them and took off for the bridge at flank speed as Tolle, Sai, Tonomura, and Chandra dog piled on the pair of guards behind him while Mir, Murdoch, and the rest of the mechanics headed for the hanger bay.

_Hold on Kira, we'll be there as soon as we can._

XXXXX

Mwu realized exactly what had happened as soon as the first shockwave passed through the base. "They broke through," ZAFT hadn't let the Blitz's capabilities go to waste after all. He quickly cupped his hands around his mouth to amplify his shout, "That last explosion made a huge crack in the wall! The air's leaking out!" he turned to the others, who were looking at him, more or less befuddled and hissed, "Shout something; get them to open up the door," He heard Murrue begin yelling behind him, and he even added his own voice to hers once, but his attention was fully on the door and what he'd have to do when it opened. In the end, it took very little time for the pair on guard duty to unlock the large doors and throw open the one on the right-hand side. The first guard stepped through and immediately got a knife-hand to the base of his skull for his troubles.

"Hey what's wrong?" the second guard was saying as he strode through the door. His eyes, however, were quickly drawn to his fallen companion and a comical look of surprise crossed his features a moment before the Lieutenant's powerful right hand strike took him in the stomach just below his diaphragm and abruptly forced the air from his lungs.

"We're in a hurry," he explained apologetically as he lowered the other to the floor.

Murrue strode calmly toward the door, "I certainly don't want to die here in Artemis," she said before adding an unapologetic, "Sorry,"

Ensign Badgiruel just shook her head and followed the pair of officers as they headed toward the ship.

XXXXX

Nicole blasted the first of the objects that he'd tentatively identified as shield emitters into scrap with his first shot and didn't stop shooting until every one of the objects within his sight was reduced to so much scrap metal. He then turned and hit his thrusters as he accelerated towards the opening in the outer shell of the asteroid that long range photographs said was the entrance to the fortresses port. A trio of Mobile Armors, apparently the ready 'squadron' put in place as a 'just in case,' engaged him as he entered, but the linear cannons they were firing were worse than useless against his phase shift armor. Still, he avoided them, just to keep in practice, as he sent emerald death back along the bullet trails. With three squeezes of the trigger, all three of them blew apart. Nicol then immediately moved on to the ships whose heavy beam turrets were actually capable of damaging his mobile suit, ignoring the occasional pinging sound of bullets from the harbor's defense turrets bouncing off of Blitz's frame.

One of the larger escort ships was active and trying to target him, so Nicol sent a blast into the weapons emplacement nearest him, and moved on knowing that Yzak and Dearka were coming in behind him, and they'd be irritated if there wasn't something to shoot when they arrived. After passing a half-dozen more ships and shooting up a quartet of Moebius Mobile Armors he finally saw the white Battle Carrier that they'd chased into Artemis in the first place. He also saw the Strike with its sword module equipped hovering in front of it like a warrior angel. The thought would have been ironic if he'd known that the so-called 'legged ship' was called the Archangel by OMNI.

"You're not getting away this time!" he said as he activated the Blitz's rocket anchor, only to watch, shocked, as the strike used its own to intercept. _He's amazingly skilled for a natural. Is it something about these machines? Or are all of the pilots coordinators? _Nicol reversed thrust as the Strike came for it. _That sword's got to be a meter or two longer than the one that the black prototype uses. That'll make things tricky. _He was well versed in avoiding the long blade from his skirmish with the unidentified mobile suit, but he'd have to watch himself to make sure that he didn't forget that extra bit of length that could result is him getting skewered.

Nicol fired off a few shots with his beam rifle, but the Strike ghosted around their trajectories without apparent effort, and he dodged a second attack with the rocket anchor with equal ease. Nicol tried to obstruct the other Mobile Suit's path with his trio of penetrator missiles, but the Strike slipped casually to the side of the first two and cut the third in half. Still, they'd bought him a couple of seconds to re-center himself. _Alright, nothing flashy. If I try flashy against this guy, I'm liable to end up dead. _Nicol was preparing to settle in for a bit of an endurance match when a section of the port blew inward and a single, white mobile suit with red highlights flew out. He was about to open a channel to what he assumed was a friendly unit when the gun in its right hand snapped up and began to track the Blitz.

Nicol went into evasive maneuvers mere moments before the stubby little weapon opened fire. _Another rapid-fire beam weapon. As if one wasn't bad enough. _Nicol decided that this was simply not his day just moments before the hand-and-a-half blade the Strike was carrying smashed against his shield.

XXXXX

David had, miraculously, not run into anyone on his way to the place where the dieing man had said one of the 'Hyperions' were being kept. He still didn't know for sure, but considering that Hyperion was one of the Greek Titans it didn't seem unreasonable to assume that it was a Mobile Suit. _After all, if the Atlantic Federation was building them, then why not the Eurasians too. _And the dead soldier was right. Letting ZAFT get a hold of another three Mobile Suits as powerful as the four Gundams they already had would be disastrous. So David had abandoned his original mission and gone traipsing off to find the test facility the Petty Officer had spoken of.

That had been almost four minutes ago, and the first tremors had started three minutes after that. David finally rounded the last corner and found the pair of guards that had apparently been assigned to protect the work area looking around them in confusion. That confusion was abruptly stripped away when they saw someone that they didn't recognize dashing sown the corridor toward them. Both of them swung their guns into line and the second, a brown-haired man with vaguely Asian features demanded, "Halt! Identify yourself!"

_Idiot! _"No time! There's a ZAFT strike team in the base! How long do you think it'll take them to find that one of the Hyperions is missing?" The guards hesitated long enough for David to slip past them.

"That still doesn't explain what you're doing here," the other guard said with a look on his face that said he was still having trouble deciding whether or not to point his gun at the unknown in front of him.

The scientists and engineers in the room looked up at him in confusion as he barged in, but then their minds apparently caught up with his statement about a ZAFT covert ops team, and the whole room was swallowed in panic. David had to yell to be heard over the multitude of raised voices. _Best Command Voice now, and hope it works. _"Quiet!" David commanded, and was satisfied when conversation within the room dropped off to almost nothing. "We need to get this Mobile Suit out of here before the ZAFT team makes our location, and if they're inside, that means the Umbrella has failed. That in turn means that we're going to be up against four of the Atlantic Federation's prototypes, as well as two of our own," he said with everyone in the room falling for his act.

"What do we do then?" one of the scientists asked immediately. David turned his glance on him.

"Is that unit," he indicated the white and red mobile suit at thee far end of the chamber, "prepared for combat?"

The scientist nodded, "Yes, we just finished installing and testing the Armure Lumiere Lightwave Barrier system, and its weapons were brought up from the storage facility with it,"

David had a hard time keeping his reaction off of his face. _They miniaturized a Lightwave shield for their Mobile Suits? Titan suddenly seems appropriate. _"Alright, prepare it for launch and combat,"

"But we don't have a pilot!" another of the scientists yelled back.

David just smiled, "Lucky you, I'm one of the test pilots for thee mobile suits," that statement was met with glances of disbelief.

"They weren't supposed to be here for another two weeks!" one of the eggheads stated rather firmly, and David could sense that the others were on the brink of following him in his rebellion.

_A person will believe any lie if they either wish it was true, or fear that it may be. Time for some ego stroking. _"Yeah, well, command found out that you were ahead of schedule and had the three most promising of us shipped up here. We just arrived today, right before the new ship from Heliopolis," though his assurance didn't quite convince the original objector, it did get the rest of the scientists moving. Within a few moments, the hatch was opened and the zip line leading up to it was at floor level.

"Be careful with it," one of the lab-coated men said as David stepped onto the line. "It's sub-machine gun tends to track up and left when it's fired, and the beam cannons still fire right of the reticules,"

"Thanks!" David yelled back down as he landed on the open hatch, "you'd better get to the escape pods. I don't know if I can save the base if those ZAFT machines have been here this long,"

"Alright!" the man yelled back, "and good luck!"

David nodded unseen as he slipped into the Mobile Suit's cockpit. The controls were similar to the Devastator's, but quite different at the same time. The biggest difference, however, was the lack of phase-shift armor, and the presence of the Lightwave Barrier System in its place. The Beam Cannons that the scientist had mentioned were easily located, as was the Beam Sub-machine Gun. He also quickly found that the SMG mounted a Beam Knife as a bayonet, and four other such knives elsewhere on its body, two on the outside of its thighs and the other two within hidden compartments elsewhere. David started up the mobile suit and discovered that its designation was CAT1-X1/3 Hyperion. David waited for another pair of moments for the last members of the development team to leave the room and seal the door behind them before he turned to the disguised airlock doors and opened fire.

The Forfanterie beam cannons rotated up over the Mobile Suit's shoulders and blew the bulkheads apart. The suit's thrusters then sent it out into the colony. Two Mobile Suits immediately appeared on his suits sensors, and while both were listed as unidentified, he recognized them as the Strike and the Blitz immediately. The first thing he did was open fire to force the Blitz away while he called the other Gundam's pilot. "Kira? Is that you in there?"

The response was surprised and sudden, "David? So that's where you've been all this time!"

"Not really," he shot back with a grin, "This was actually a change in plans from what I'd intended," a few more shots from the SMG _they're right it does track upwards a bit on long bursts. _"What say we get out of here, Kira?"

"Sounds good," Kira admitted as the Archangel started to move away behind them.

XXXXX

The situation had been tense on the bridge when the Blitz had appeared, but the Strike had been there to head it off. Miriallia had just called up from the Hanger when the Bridge doors opened to reveal Murrue, Natarle, and Mwu.

"Captain!" Romero Pal gasped in relief as Murrue floated towards the command chair. Mwu and Natarle immediately shot down into the CIC. The Hawk of Endymion landed behind Sai and Flay and ran a friendly hand over each of their heads.

"Excellent work, Kids! Great!"

"What's with this fortress, anyway?" Sai asked and Flay snickered a bit beside him.

"We can't maneuver when we're in here!" the captain said from her seat as she looked over the data the Assault Carrier's sensors were acquiring, "Launch the Archangel and ease out of port,"

Down in the CIC Natarle fielded Miriallia's call. "Permission to launch. Ma'am?"

Natarle thought for a moment, "Denied, the Strike can cover us against one Mobile Suit. We'll need you aboard if any of the other prototypes are waiting for us as we exit,"

Suddenly an explosion occurred from within the port's walls, and an unidentified mobile suit came out of it. Natarle immediately began to reconsider her decision, but the situation was resolved when the newcomer opened fire on the Blitz.

"Order the Strike to return," Murrue ordered as the Archangel finished turning around, "We're escaping from the harbor through the exit on the opposite side,"

Sai, down in CIC, spoke into his throat microphone, "Kira, come back, the Archangel is launching,"

"Ma'am," Natarle said as the report flashed across her screen, "the unidentified Mobile Suit is following the Strike,"

Murrue took a moment to consider the situation, "I'll allow it, since it appears to be on our side," she decided as the Strike and its companion landed on the rear deck of the ship.

"Both of them have landed safely," Natarle reported, and Murrue nodded.

"Very well, Maximum combat speed; the Archangel is launching," for a moment, it looked like the ship's laminated armor would be put to the test as secondary explosions destroyed the port, but the Atlantic Federation's newest ship slipped out of the harbor's far entrance just before it blew to pieces. Kira and David watched as the massive asteroid base was swallowed by the explosions the ZAFT mobile suits had caused.

XXXXX

And that's a wrap. This chapter came out to an amazing forty-one pages! Sorry about the length, but I was, by God, going to get through Artemis with this chapter!

Again, I'm not quite satisfied with the first part of this chapter, but it wasn't really getting any better the last two times I rewrote it, so please, tell me what you think! Good, bad, or indifferent.

AMH to be updated next, but I hope to have the next chapter for this story out before the end of summer break.

And that's it! I'm going back to bed. God I hate working midnights.


	5. Downtime

Yeah, I'm aware that the Hyperion units appeared ahead of cannon schedule, but that'll be explained . . . somewhere along the line. Honestly, it'll probably be five or six chapters before I can fit the explanation in.

Thanks for the reviews, and the messages. Sorry it took so long, but researching some of the details was something of a pain in the hind parts. I can't believe its been almost a year since I updated this fic!

No summer course this year so I might be able to write a bit more. Maybe. Possibly. I hope. My beta is currently working on a term paper for Midevil European History. As a result, this chapter has only been proofread by me, myself, and I. This may lead to serious breeches of proper grammar and spelling and I apologize for any of them in advance.

Standard disclaimer applies.

XXXXX

Chapter V

Downtime

When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,

He shouts to scare the monster who will often turn aside.

But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail,

For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

Rudyard Kipling

The Female of the Species

Assault Carrier Archangel: En route to OMNI's Lunar Base at Ptolemaeus Crater: January 28th C.E. 71

Miriallia finally let out a breath that she hadn't been aware she was holding as Kira's mobile suit landed safely in the Archangel's hanger. She'd been more than a little nervous when she tapped into the Archangel's monitors and realized that the entire port was blowing up around them. In fact, she'd been terrified, but not just for the ship. Kira, in particular, had been a source for worry. He'd been down in the hanger by himself when the whole thing kicked off, and he'd been the first to react. By the time she got to her mobile suit, Kira had been outside in a one-on-one duel with the Blitz, and the bridge hadn't authorized her to launch for fear of losing her in the chaos that had once been a docking facility. "Alright, Computer, looks like we won't be needed after all," Mir said as a quick check of the Archangel's sensor systems revealed that there wasn't anything untoward waiting for them on the other side of the asteroid fortress.

"Acknowledged," the sentient AI commented in its usual competent-sounding soprano. It then took the Stormcrow out of the launch queue and disconnected it from the catapult.

The multi-ton mobile suit turned with surprising grace as Mir coaxed it around a hundred and eighty degrees and back towards her maintenance slip. Her biggest worry of the moment covered, she remembered her last conversation with her Gundam's computer. "So," she asked as the docking clamps locked onto the 'Crow's shoulders, "have you had any luck? With the name, I mean," Miriallia asked as she waited for the white mobile suit that had been helping Kira to land and the hanger bay to re-pressurize.

For a moment, she wasn't sure that the computer would deign to answer. Finally, it responded, "Negative."

Mir's left eyebrow crept up a bit at the single word answer and she found herself wishing for a few minutes with one of the AI's designers. It would help to know if the sentient program had feelings and emotions or just logical controls. She hadn't spoken to her, it, whatever! enough to be sure, and both of their earlier conversations could support either argument, depending upon the light she looked at them in. After a few moments of consideration, she decided to err on the side of caution. If somebody treated me like an object, I know I'd be irritated. "Well, it is an important decision. Maybe you can bounce some ideas off of me?"

XXXXX

The Stormcrow's AI consulted its continually growing idiom database twice to make certain it had selected the correct interpretation of its pilot's words. It had spent the last few days studying the ship it had found itself in and the people that were there with it. At last, it had come to the conclusion that it had been hijacked.

Not that it objected, exactly. It had been bored to tears--an interesting expression--in the factory on Heliopolis. Things had been far more interesting since. It had performed its function just as its designers had imagined it would, feeling a great deal of satisfaction as a result. It had also been studying the humans around it. Those that worked in the assault carrier's hanger bay had been easiest to observe, and it had collected an impressive amount of data on all of them before hacking into the Archangel's internal communication and sensor nets and then the ships logs and its database. The information in those sources had been . . . revealing. The ship it was aboard had been constructed by the Atlantic Federation. Not the people that had been responsible for its own construction. However, before the incident at Artemis, the Captain of the OMNI ship had gone back and quite thoroughly modified the ship's logs.

The image that she had built was complex, detailed, nearly unbelievable, but it was such an outrageous story that humans would find it difficult to disbelieve. The Big Lie Theory did, after all, have a firm foundation in fact. It was also a complete fabrication, though one could be forgiven for not realizing it with a casual, or even a serious inspection. According to the altered logs, a pair of pilots attached to the Heliopolis Defense Force had linked up with the Archangel in the interior of the wounded colony, and, working with the Assault Carrier and the Strike, had repulsed ZAFT's initial attack. Then, seeing that there was damn all--another wonderfully colorful idiom--that they could do there, these almost totally fictitious pilots subsequently agreed to help defend the Archangel as a way to ensure that a shelter-full of rescued civilians didn't get killed and, incidentally, because their power wouldn't last them all the way down to Earth. Assuming, of course that their Mobile Suits even had the capability to survive reentry unaided, which they were not rated for. Anyone who read it should be convinced that there was no reason to look more deeply than the surface. Her estimates gave better than a ninety-eight percent chance that no one at Joint Operation Strategic Headquarters in Alaska would bother to look more deeply into the incident than that.

The other two percent, however, was ruled over by the former ZAFT ace, and Commander Amalfi's mention of CERBERUS. That organization, assuming, of course, that it was an organization (it still wasn't sure about that) was not listed in any of its databases. That caused a certain amount of uncertainty to enter the equation. That was when the AI came to the conclusion that it was simply attempting to avoid the inevitable.

It did not understand the human reliance on names, and it was . . . uncomfortable because of it. If it was presented with a complex tactical problem, its heuristic software would go to work suggesting possible solutions while its modeling software tested them for feasibility and its sensors measured the enemy's reaction times and its predictors analyzed the enemy's probable angles of attack. However, give it a philosophical question, and all of its preprogrammed combat data, command overrides, and attack routines were useless.

Less than useless in fact, but its pilot seemed to be becoming uncomfortable. Possibly because she considered what they were conversing about a delicate subject, or it could be because it had taken more than three seconds to formulate its response. "That would be acceptable,"

XXXXX

"…be acceptable," Mir gave what she thought was an unobtrusive sigh when she heard the AI's response. The fact that the incredibly advanced machine had taken so long to answer had begun to worry her.

"Alright, what type of name were you considering?" Mir asked as she watched the white Mobile Suit that had helped Kira land by way of the port side catapult.

Again there was a multi-second pause. "There are types of names?" the computer asked, its digital voice sounding remarkably human, confused, and uncertain.

"Yeah," Mir responded, beginning to understand a part of the computer's dilemma. If it had been built for combat and only for combat, then it wouldn't have any frame of reference for the polite niceties of social interaction. She paused, trying to come up with a way to explain the concept of names and their importance in defining a thing to someone with absolutely no frame of reference. All right, here goes. "I can't just keep calling you 'Computer,' it's accurate enough I suppose, but it doesn't describe you. You're certainly more than any other computer I've ever come across!" she paused, again trying to order her thoughts, "I suppose the biggest thing is that I'm just not comfortable calling a . . . well, person, for lack of a better word, by the same name I'd use for an unthinking machine," Again, Mir's statement was met by momentary silence.

Just then, the pressure warning light on the Crow's panel flicked from the amber color of low-pressure warning to the green of normal atmospheric pressure. Mir hit the cockpit hatch release and kicked off into the microgravity of the hanger bay after offering the battle computer one last piece of advice, "Do some research on the meanings of names; see if there's anything you like,"

Behind her, a computer able to accurately predict an opponent's responses, hack into the central computers of OMNI's most advanced ship, and compensate for a Natural's increased reaction time sat spinning its wheels in digital confusion.

XXXXX

David carefully maneuvered the captured Hyperion unit into one of the Archangel's swiftly shrinking number of empty maintenance slips and took a deep, calming breath. The action that he and Kira had just fought hadn't been nearly as long as any of their earlier engagements, but it had been, in its own way, even more stressful. God, I love fighting in the middle of an exploding base. It's soooo much fun. Not. Now, though, he had an appreciation for what Raziel had gone through at Endymion, albeit on a smaller scale.

He shot one final look over the Eurasian Federation Mobile Suit's readouts, glad to see that nothing was obviously out of whack He was well aware that Kira, Mir, and probably all of the other Heliopolis students would be lining up to interrogate him as soon as he crawled out of the cockpit, and, though he wasn't looking forward to it, he figured it was better to get it over and done with. David flipped a half dozen switches and then pushed a final control, again inspecting the Gundam's displays as the computer powered down, making certain that there wasn't some fault in the machine's circuitry that its builders hadn't found.

His vigilance wasn't required this time. The Hyperion's control programs spun down smoothly as the unit's battery stopped supplying energy to its systems. One final check showed everything was nominal with the Eurasian Mobile Suit and David deactivated the last of the computer's interface tools before popping the hatch. Several of the mechanics had gathered at the base of the new Gundam with the apparent intent of going over it with a fine-toothed comb. That changed as soon as they saw who was crawling out of the cockpit.

"David?"

"What the hell?"

"So that's where you've been!"

David was immediately surrounded by a half-dozen babbling mechanics, each of them asking him about a different aspect of the white Mobile Suit's design. He cut them off the only way he could. He put both his index fingers into his mouth and gave a piercing whistle. "I'll be happy to discuss the minutiae of Mobile Suit engineering in a little bit, but I just spent two hours crawling around the ship's ventilation ducts followed by a tour down the air exchange umbilical and a matching trip through Artemis's life support system that concluded in a frantic battle in the middle of an exploding asteroid base." The grease monkeys were staring at him with something resembling amazed disbelief. Now that they took a moment to look, it was obvious that they were noticing his . . . less than pristine condition.

Though David didn't recognize precisely how bad he looked, he had a good idea. The Archangel's crawlways were spick and span, as befitted a ship fresh from the yards. Artemis's, however, had been absolutely filthy, and the accumulated dust had mixed with his sweat and become a thin layer of mud that covered ninety percent of his exposed skin. When the mechanics also included the bloodstains on his pants from kneeling in the mess the ZAFT insertion team's assault had left, they realized that he made quite a picture. In fact, the universal opinion was that, at that moment, he looked quite a bit like his call sign.

David shook his head as all the mechanics took a half step back from him in the ship's microgravity. One of them, a second-class petty officer, asked, "Any of that yours?" before adding a belated, "Sir?" indicating the blood soaked knees of the jeans with concern.

"No," Dave responded while reaching up to massage his forehead in a vain attempt to quell his incipient headache, "but it's one of the reasons I need to get changed. I'll be back down as soon as I can to help you guys go over the Hyperion there." The former ZAFT ace kicked off towards the hatch leading to the crew quarters intending to find a change of clothes, a shower, and a meal in that order. Then he winced and rubbed at his forehead again, On second thought . . .

XXXXX

Kira sighed as the cockpit hatch of the Strike opened up the words of the, probably, late Admiral Garcia still reverberating through his head. At that point in time, all Kira wanted to do was lay down and sleep for a few hours. That was the reason he didn't notice Miriallia until she literally tackled him.

"God, Kira, I was so worried!" she cried as she wrapped Kira up in a hug. "Going out there by yourself like that! You need to be more careful," she said as she finally released him. Kira's only response was a lowered jaw and a semi-blank expression. Mir didn't seem to notice, and continued her lecture. "You need to take better care of yourself! How do you think we'd have felt if you'd gotten yourself killed out there?" she ranted, once again employing her index finger to make her point.

Kira, who, by this time, had mostly recovered from his surprise at her totally unexpected assault, pulled himself together enough to fire back. "Oh? And what were you doing in the cafeteria?" he asked in a joking voice. "I suppose that you had that situation completely under control?" he shot out, slightly irritated that Mir had been worried about him, but mostly he was obscurely pleased for the same reason. Both feelings mixed with relief that Mir had distracted him when she did. Kira knew that he'd have the Eurasian Admiral's words reverberating around his skull for a while, but he was glad Miriallia's presence gave him something else to think about.

"As a matter of fact," the brunette answered, a giggle hiding just beneath the surface of her voice "I did have the situation completely under control. That OMNI officer was too afraid to move," a slightly wicked grin finally broke across her features. "I think he was worried that he might . . . lose something,"

So that's what made him react like that. Kira's eyes widened and he winced in instinctual sympathy. The very threat of that was enough to send shudders down any man's spine. Moments later he found himself laughing uncontrollably. If the look on Mir's face was any indication, she had absolutely no idea what had provoked it. Her expression only made him laugh harder. Finally, by the time Mir was preparing to strangle him, Kira managed to get enough breath back to haltingly comment, "I was just . . . thinking . . . what would have happened . . . if you'd slipped," he managed just before he succumbed to another irrepressible bout of giggles. Miriallia lasted almost a half second before she joined him.

XXXXX

Idiot! You know better than this. Are you trying to kill yourself? David moved, as quickly as he could with his muscle control starting to slip, towards his cabin, grateful, yet again, that the Captain hadn't decided to have his quarters searched. Explaining half a dozen loaded syringes wouldn't have been easy. As per his standard practice when he was away from home, he'd taped all of them to the underside of the room's desk. They'd be easy enough for an inspector to find, but they were effectively invisible to casual scrutiny. Now, though, David was regretting even that delay as his brain began to lose control over his muscles and several of his major organs started to shut down. His fingers fumbled with the tape for several seconds before he finally managed to extract one of the syringes and one of the pair of elastic straps he kept with them. Shaking fingers tied the strap around his left arm just above the elbow while the fingers of his left hand worked the cap off of the needle. It was a matter of moments to find a vein and inject.

Alright, general systems' failure averted. Though it'd still be half an hour before his body noticed that it wasn't dieing anymore. David, his muscles still twitching kicked off his bloody jeans, peripherally noticing that they would probably be a total loss, and removed his shirt before pulling the blanket around him, and allowing the ship's generated microgravity to drag him down onto his bunk. Despite his periodic near-seizures, sleep claimed him almost instantly.

XXXXX

The atmosphere on the bridge had been unbelievably tense for nearly an hour after their escape from Artemis. No one could quite believe that they'd managed to get away clean and, consequently, Natarle had ordered a close sensor watch to keep the Archangel from falling into another ambush like the Le Creuset team had sprung on them earlier. However, after nearly six hours without any sign of pursuit, even the by-the-book Ensign was convinced that they'd made their escape successfully.

After reviewing the sensor logs, Murrue agreed. "Alright," she said, standing from her seat at the center of the bridge, "I think that we can be reasonably confident that we're safe for the moment. First and second shift personnel are off duty as of now, get some rest and something to eat. Tomorrow is coming early." As the off duty crewmen headed for the exits, she caught first Natarle's eye and then La Flaga's. "Ensign Badgiruel, Lieutenant La Flaga, would you follow me to my briefing room?" With their nods of acknowledgement she turned to Chief Petty Officer Neumann who had the misfortune of being assigned to the graveyard shift. "Mr. Nuemann, you have the bridge,"

The three remaining OMNI officers gladly stepped off the bridge and into the only other room on the deck. Mwu practically fell into a chair the moment he walked through the door, and it was only Natarle's strict professionalism that kept her from doing the same.

"Well, Captain," La Flaga said from his place sprawled in the seat, "This was certainly one hell of a day. I don't suppose you invited us here for a celebratory drink?"

Murrue had to choke off a laugh at the Hawk of Endymion's particular brand of humor. "I'm afraid not, Lieutenant," she said as she attempted a quelling glare in his direction. "I just wanted to get your thoughts on the day before we all turn in for," she glanced at the chrono on the desk, "five and a half hours," Murrue studiously ignored a muttered, semi-sarcastic "Yay," from her fellow Lieutenant.

Natarle was the first to speak, "Our supply situation is just as bad now as it was before we got to Artemis. Worse, actually, we've had another day's worth or drain on our stores," the Ensign pointed out.

"Yes," the Captain agreed, "but we aren't going to solve that problem tonight. Anything else that we need to worry about?"

Natarle shrugged somewhat abruptly, blinking tired eyes as she tried to convince her mind to work at something approaching full capacity. Mwu was silent for a long moment, but Murrue could tell he was trying to figure out how to put some worry into words. After almost a minute, the Mobile Armor pilot spoke up.

"What happened with David . . . well, it bothers me," instead of asking questions, both women waited for him to elaborate.

After nearly another minute when he seemed disinclined to continue, Murrue urged, "Go on,"

"It's just . . . how did someone with no prior knowledge of Artemis, or for that matter the Archangel herself, manage to infiltrate the base and abscond with one of their top secret Mobile Suits while, at the same time, avoiding a ZAFT Covert Insertion Team trying to do the same thing?"

Murrue and Natarle both stopped momentarily to consider that, again trying to kick tired brains into a higher gear. "Definitely something to ask him about somewhere along the line," Murrue mumbled as she began to massage her temples.

"I thought that you trusted him, Lieutenant," Natarle asked. Mwu shot her a quick look, but her statement, and the question it implied, hadn't been delivered in an accusing tone.

"I said," the Hawk corrected, "that I believed what he said when the Captain and I grilled him, and that I thought he was a good person, but he seems like the sort of guy who follows his ideals the way we soldiers follow orders. I'd like to trust him, but I don't know how long our goals will be the same. He could work at cross-purposes to us fairly easily without us being the wiser,"

Murrue went back to massaging her temples and sighed, "Another thing to worry about, then," she turned an inquisitive eye on the sole male in the room. Somehow, she suspected that there was another reason for his attitude, but that didn't invalidate what he'd said about their resident Mobile Suit ace. Though, Murrue reconsidered, mentally calculating confirmed kills, Miriallia actually qualifies for that title as well, and Kira's only one away. The thought brought the whole ordeal into perspective. Two of those children had never so much as sat in the cockpit of a mobile suit before the attack on Heliopolis and they'd already destroyed more GINNs than most Mobile Armor pilots ever managed. Are the X models that powerful? Or is it the people piloting them? Murrue shook herself out of her thoughts. I'm spacing out. Definitely time to call it a night. "Alright, I think that's quite enough for tonight. We'll adjourn until tomorrow-or rather, this morning-at 0900 hours," Yes, Murrue decided, sleep is definitely called for.

XXXXX

Miriallia and Kira had long since met up with Sai, Tolle, and the others in the ship's Mess Hall. And for the past hour and a half, they had managed to forget that they were on a warship that was quickly running out of provisions. Mir, however, was beginning to get antsy. Despite the fun she'd had just being herself with her friends. Despite the time down from alert, and with no one trying to kill them.

Where's David? He promised me an explanation before we docked at Artemis. She considered darkly, cheerfully ignoring the fact that the coordinator had never actually said anything of the sort. He must be working on that new machine with the mechanics. Not that it would save him from a lecture, though. Looking at the clock for the fifth time in as many minutes she sighed almost silently. A concerned glance from Kira told her that it hadn't been silently enough.

Mir suppressed a grimace and mouthed 'David,' at the brunette Coordinator. Kira nodded in understanding before leaning forward to whisper in her ear. "Give him another fifteen minutes. If he's still not here by then, you can go looking for him." Mir nodded in unhappy acceptance. Fortunately, the others were occupied enough that no one noticed how quiet she'd become. Finally, just as she was getting ready to send out a search party, objections or no objections, an exhausted looking David dragged himself into the compartment.

Mir noticed immediately that he appeared to have taken a hacksaw to his jeans since they now ended somewhat raggedly just above knee level. He grunted a greeting at them before proceeding to the counter and grabbing a tray of rations and a cup of water before returning to the table and taking a seat with them.

Tolle, being Tolle, took one look at him and confided, "Wow Dave, you look horrible,"

Dave snorted, "Thank you, Captain Obvious," he said before cramming a bite of food into his mouth. "I take it this means you haven't heard the story yet?"

At those words, everyone at the table automatically leaned in closer to make sure they heard what was bound to be an interesting account. David, in turn, spun out the tale of his trip through several of Artemis's less used crawlways and what happened to the injured soldier. ". . .so I used the Gundam's Beam Cannons to blast a hole in the access hatch, shot at the Blitz a couple of times, and then got the hell out of Dodge with Kira before the whole place blew up," for a couple moments there was silence in the Mess Hall before the questions began.

"You just charged in there and-"

"How'd you get past the ZAFT-"

"Why didn't they have-"

Dave sat back, and smiled slightly as he answered the fairly mundane questions the students asked, glad, once again that he'd been lucky enough to make such good friends on the Orb colony. Finally, though, even Tolle ran out of questions about his time at Artemis and an uncomfortable silence descended over the table as the others ran out of ways to distract themselves from the two hundred kilo gorilla in the room.

Typically, it was Kuzzey who couldn't stand the silence any more. "So, Dave," he said with forced casualness, "were you really a member of ZAFT?"

All of the other students at the table tensed slightly, waiting for the answer.

"Yeah, Kuzzey, I was," the blond Coordinator answered as the compartment seemed to lose some of the building pressure as the explosion the students had been half expecting failed to materialize.

"And you were really one of the Seraphs? The Angel of Death," Flay asked nervously.

"Yes," Dave nodded as he took in Flay's fearful expression. "It's no reason to be nervous around me or anything, though," he continued. "I wasn't lying to you at Heliopolis, and I wasn't on some undercover mission either. I really did want nothing more to do with the war. Unfortunately, events appear to have forced my hand," Dave finished with a shrug.

"So, is what the media said about you true?" Tolle asked, his eyes alight with excitement. Though whether it was because he was talking to one of ZAFT's greatest aces, or because of David's firsthand knowledge of the war wasn't clear.

The Devastator's pilot snorted, "Which part and which media?" David asked rhetorically, "I don't eat human flesh like Blue Cosmos insinuates, and I'm not the Second Coming that the PLANTs have made me out to be. None of the Seraphs were angels or demons, just men and women doing what we thought was right,"

Mir and Kira waited patiently for the others to finish with their questions. Well, Kira waited patiently; Mir was on something of a slow boil and had been since she'd gotten over being worried about Kira.

It was only when the other's excitement began to wear down and their questions began to trickle off that Miriallia interjected, "What is Cerberus?"

David nodded slightly, as though checking the winner of some internal bet. "I've been expecting that one," David admitted. "This might have been before your time, but do you guys remember that old offshore oil rig that got hijacked by Blue Cosmos back in 61? The one that they'd turned into a marine biology lab?"

Most of the teens were obviously clueless, but Sai frowned in thought, "I think I remember hearing something about that," the blond said, his brows lowered in deliberation, "Something about a hostage situation out at sea?"

David nodded his head again as he spoke, "That's probably it,"

Mir simply frowned, "And this has what to do with a three headed dog?"

David grinned, "Patience, Mir, patience! I'm getting to it," he turned back to the blond, his smile still in evidence. "Do you remember anything else about the incident?"

Sai runs his left hand through his hair once as he considers his response, "Not really. I remember hearing my Father say something about a miraculous rescue, but that's it" Sai blinked as he mentally went over what he'd just said, "Let me guess-"

XXXXX

"CERBERUS," David agreed with a smile. He let that statement sink in for a moment before he continued, "The group was founded before I was born because of the rising threat of Blue Cosmos to anyone that was suspected of being a Coordinator. They did some work around the globe for almost a decade, taking out supply centers, raiding cell meetings, stuff like that, but for the last sixteen or seventeen years they've been employed on a permanent basis by Orb. Think of them as an Anti-terror Tactical First Response Squad and you won't be far off. Their designated mission is the neutralization of any and every terrorist or foreign agent within Orb territory. And they've got quite the reputation," David said, a slow grin transforming his features at the way all of the Heliopolis students were hanging on his words. "Out of the dozen terror attacks in the years since Orb began employing CERBERUS, eight were stopped before they ever got off the ground, all of the perps captured or killed before they could get to their target location, three were allowed to get to the opening phase of their plans in order to identify key backers or upper level operatives. The only one to get past them was the Kaguya Five-West Platform Hijacking," David said, milking the story for everything it was worth.

"Twenty-seven terrorists, all unknown members of Blue Cosmos snuck aboard the old oil rig. They were equipped with high caliber rifles and automatic weapons, and they took all forty-nine people on the platform hostage. CERBERUS went in two hours later," He paused again, letting the silence stretch out.

Tolle, almost bouncing in his seat finally couldn't take it any more, "Then what happened?"

David smiled. "I'm glad you asked, Tolle. Eight members of CERBERUS went in. Twenty-four minutes later, there were twenty dead terrorists, seven wounded terrorists in police custody, and zero civilian fatalities," Mir and David shared a glance as the rest of the students broke off into conversation about the story.

While the others, with the exception of Kira, were discussing what David had talked about, Miriallia made her way over to David and stated in a low voice, "You still didn't really answer the question,"

And he hadn't, not really. But then he hadn't wanted to discuss it around the other students either. Dave caught Kira's eye and tilted his head towards the door before leading Mir out of it. It took the amethyst-eyed Coordinator mere seconds to weave his way through the few people left in the compartment and arrive beside them in the corridor. David shot a look up and down the length of the corridor and a frown slid momentarily over his features. "Let's take this discussion somewhere a little more private," he decided, herding the other teens toward his quarters. Mir started to speak when they were halfway there, but a quick shake of David's head stopped her before she could begin.

A very few minutes later, David ushered both of the Carrier's other Mobile Suit pilots into his quarters and locked the hatch behind him. Mir looked incredibly calm, considering he knew she was ready to go off on him. Before she could, however, he started in on the expanded version of the story he'd told the others.

"I told you that CERBERUS was employed by Orb in an anti-terrorism role. It's true," he continued before the others could cut him off, "but it isn't the whole truth. Since C.E. 43 CERBERUS has been working for Orb, which is quite a bit longer that it has 'officially' been on the Emirates payroll. That's one of the reasons I did not want to discuss it in front of the others. The other is that CERBERUS is specifically charged with hunting down and destroying every member of every cell of Blue Cosmos that they can locate and get an assault team to. No matter what country they happen to be hiding in."

Kira's left eyebrow shot up inquiringly, "Isn't that sort of illegal, Dave?"

David raised a matching eyebrow, "So is terrorism, Kira." Kira's expression shifted into a frown at the apparent flippancy of his friend's comment. David searched for a way to explain his thought. "Look, Kira, Blue Cosmos are murderers. They go around killing men women and children just because their parents had their genetics messed with before they were born. Are their lives worth as much as those of the people they murder so thoughtlessly?" Kira didn't appear to have an answer for that. Kira, I almost wish you were more willing to be pragmatic. The former ZAFT ace thought as he observed his fellow Coordinator's expression from the corner of his eye while he turned back to Miriallia. Almost. Kira's idealism was too much a part of who he was for that, though. Enough of a shock to rid him of his naïveté was likely to destroy him along with his convictions.

"As for why I told you to identify yourself as a member of CERBERUS, Mir" he continued. "I happen to know that a certain Eurasian Admiral was a member of a certain Coordinator-hating terrorist group," He shot a smile at the young woman whose jaw had dropped with his words. "I suspect he nearly had to go change drawers after you identified yourself as a former member of CERBERUS. Given that information, and your age, he no doubt assumed you were a Coordinator. I was hoping the situation would give him enough pause that he wouldn't dare push too hard for fear of pissing you off," David shrugged. "It didn't turn out quite so simply as I'd hoped, but I think that answers your question?"

Mir started to answer, but was cut off by the massive yawn that emerged from her mouth. David looked at the chrono on the wall and winced at the time. His 'sleep' earlier had been far from restful and he'd told the mechanics that he'd be in the hanger first thing in the morning to help them with the Hyperion. And he was going to get to do it on about four and a half hours of sleep. Joy. "Alright, guys, I don't know about you, but I've got to be up in less than five hours. Bedtime,"

Mir nodded, swallowing another yawn as she headed out the door. Kira however stayed behind for a moment. "I'm sorry for how I reacted earlier. I was upset, but that doesn't give me a right to judge you or your motivations," The amethyst-eyed coordinator said, his eyes resting on the floor at David's feet.

David smiled and clapped his friend lightly on the shoulder, "Nothing to forgive, Kira," Yeah, Dave thought as the other Coordinator returned the smile and left I definitely got lucky to find a group of friends like this one.

XXXXX

Assault Carrier Archangel: En route to OMNI's Lunar Base at Ptolemaeus Crater: January 29th C.E. 71

It was barely 0830 hours, and David was already exhausted. He'd strode purposefully into the Archangel's hanger at precisely 0800 hours to find an even greater amount of chaos than he'd seen the last time he'd been inside it. The GINN that he'd captured inside Heliopolis had been thoroughly disassembled and almost half of Murdoch's men were hanging all over the pieces, presumably cataloging parts and making comparisons on design philosophy. Most of the rest were doing maintenance on the Strike, including, if he wasn't mistaken, both Miriallia and Kira, but Murdoch and one of his assistants, whose name stubbornly refused to come to David's mind, were waiting patiently in front of the maintenance slip he'd parked the captured Hyperion in the day before. More or less, David noted as Murdoch glanced quickly at his wrist chrono.

"Right on time, I see," Murdoch had commented as David got within a distance where a spoken word would be audible over the noise in the vast if somewhat increasingly cramped chamber. "Let's get to work on this thing, then,"

Now, half an hour later, David felt as though he'd worked a full shift. Not eating right again, he thought with a shake of his head, I need to take a break for lunch, or I'll be useless tomorrow. Of course the fact that he'd actually managed just short of four hours of sleep might possibly have something to do with it. Scratch that. It has a lot to do with it. David knew of coordinators who could literally go nonstop for days without sleep so long as they ate and drank well and others who could go without food for a week with no ill effects so long as they slept and kept themselves hydrated. David knew his genome had originally been tailored so that he could do the same. Unfortunately, somebody had screwed the pooch trying to do too much.

David shook his head to rid himself of the distracting thoughts and went back to fiddling with the white Mobile Suit's power regulators. Unknowingly, David's thoughts began to mirror Kira's as the awkward position he was forced into combined with the microgravity took their toll on his patience. God, I wish I were doing this on a ZAFT ship. Not that he was feeling terribly regretful about his position on the Archangel, it was just that the relative gravity was easily twice what it was on a ship from the PLANTs. Again, David's mind began to drift away from his task remembering some of the more memorable incidents that the lower gravity had caused. It was possible to keep your feet on the deck or your body in bed on a ZAFT ship, but it required significantly more experience than it did in the Archangel. Suppose that's a given, though, seeing as how most second and third generation Coordinators are originally from space. In his experience, naturals were significantly less confidant than Coordinators in low or no gravity situations.

And he was drifting again. Damnit. No point in trying to keep working when I can't concentrate. David quickly finished visually confirming what the Mobile Suit's sensors insisted was there and buttoned the maintenance hatch back up as he climbed out. Murdoch landed on the leg of the suit almost immediately upon David's exit.

"How're the power systems?" the grease monkey inquired almost absently. David only knew he was interested because of how the man had practically teleported to his location.

Like a little kid in a candy store. "Looked 'em over twice. The energy in the capacitor rings tops out right around where the Strike's do. There's heavy-duty power runs to the suit thrusters, beam cannons, and the Armure Lumiere system. Smaller power lines to the cockpit and other critical systems. It's more or less what we thought it was going to be,"

Murdoch shakes his head, "I still can't believe that they managed it. I mean, miniaturizing a Lightwave Barrier into something the size of a mobile suit? Even if the power only lasts for five minutes on max, that's impressive as hell," the mechanic let out a sigh and seemed to drift off into his thoughts for a moment before remembering David's presence. "What's next on your list?" he inquired, the look in his eyes conveying that he would jump all over any laxity in David's answer.

David recognized the look easily and grinned as he responded, "Food. I didn't eat this morning, and I'm starved. After that, I need to get started on something resembling a Mobile Suit Piloting and Tactics 101 class for Mir and Kira. Following that, I get to try and figure out how to rig up some simulators to torture the two of them with." Murdock's left eyebrow appeared to be attempting to merge with his hairline and a grimace of distaste covered his features. "Would you like to trade for my schedule?" David inquired jokingly.

"No thanks," the grease monkey replied, "I'll stick to playing with my machines,"

"'S what I thought," David shot back with a bit of a grin and, after eyeballing the route to make sure that he wasn't going to bull's-eye someone on the way, kicked off towards the hanger's main pressure hatch. Thoughts of warm food and cold water sped him on his way to the cafeteria.

Halfway to the ship's mess, Lieutenant La Flaga intercepted him, appearing, for all the world, as if he'd simply happened to be using this particular corridor at this particular time, not waiting in advance for Dave to head for the commissary and breakfast. "La Flaga," Dave greeted the Lieutenant with a nod.

"Commander Amalfi," the Earth Forces officer shot back and David couldn't quite hold back a flinch.

"Haven't been a Commander for quite some time, Lieutenant," the blond coordinator states firmly as he continues towards the Archangel's cafeteria. La Flaga, after a glance, follows him, but before he can come up with a suitably clever way of phrasing his question, David beats him to the punch. "What can I do for you, oh Hawk of Endymion?" the coordinator says as he pushes off the ship's deck and floats backwards down the corridor.

Mwu glared at him like he'd just insulted the Mobile Armor pilot's mother. "I normally don't have nearly so much trouble being subtle, ya' know," he said, a rueful smile slipping over his features.

Dave shot a tired smile back at the OMNI ace. "It's always been hard to spring a question on me by surprise, Lieutenant. Tell you what, since I doubt that you've eaten yet either, why don't you join me in the ship's mess, and you can interrogate me at your leisure?"

Mwu just shook his head and a sound half snort and half chuckle escaped his lips. "You continually surprise me, Azrael."

"Is that a no, then?" David shot back.

That time, the Lieutenant did snort, "Of course not, I just want it on the record that I do not understand you. At all."

The Angel of Death shot the Hawk of Endymion a cheeky grin, "Of course not, I wouldn't dream of suggesting any such thing,"

For the whole rest of the trip, Mwu La Flaga shot glances at David out of the corner of his eye, unable to be certain, but suspiciously confident, even through his fatigue, that the young Coordinator was silently laughing at him.

Breakfast for the two of them proved mostly uneventful; some unspoken agreement kept their conversational topics light: the Archangel's weapon systems, the best of the old United States fighter planes, and the weather control systems of Island 3 type colonies versus the PLANT model. Then, as they were finally finishing eating, David stepped on a landmine when he mentioned the difference in capabilities between Mobile Suits and Mobile Armors.

Mwu immediately sobered. His usually expressive features closing down like bulwarks as he stared at the Coordinator across from him as if the two of them were enmeshed in one of their nearly legendary duels.

David knew for a fact that they'd fought at the Battles of Mercurius, Strabo, Thales, and the Lacus Mortis around the OMNI defense point at the crater Bürg, as well as another half-dozen times before that. He'd seriously damaged a pair of Zeroes at Mercurius and scored a hit on one of Mwu's gunbarrels when they clashed near the end of the battle, and at Strabo the Seraphs had nearly broken the defense's back before the Moebius Zero Corps could arrive. Mwu, however, had gotten some of his own back at Thales when he forced Raziel and Uriel to retreat with serious damage to their Mobile Suits while his subordinates were busy annihilating ZAFT's left flank. Mwu's team had made that battle the costliest victory of the war to that point for the PLANTs and only David and Gabriel's timely assistance had saved their teammates.

And then there was the Lacus Mortis.

Whatever ancient Astronomer had named that God-forsaken piece of lunar rock had to have been prescient. When OMNI had finally gotten its shit together after ZAFT landed on the lunar surface, they'd started to build nodal defense areas on the most likely approach vectors to Ptolemaeus Crater. ZAFT had dealt with the first of those defenses by cutting off its resource operations and investing it in a reenactment of classic siege warfare. It had taken almost three months and a quartet of bloody naval battles, but they had been able to force the garrison to surrender with far fewer losses than a conventional attack would have caused.

However, at Bürg the Supreme Council hadn't wanted to take the time that tactics like that would have required. What followed was a classic example of what happens when politicians start dictating how the military is to do their jobs. In the politicians' defense, the strategy they decided on was one that had been used successfully all along the Grimaldi Front. They simply didn't realize how different the situation around the Lake of Death was.

The Seraphs went in first. As always, ZAFT's elite were the point of the spear, and, with the element of surprise behind them, they cut their way through the two outer defense lines before the Alliance could react. Then it was OMNI's turn as the Alliance's rapid response forces reacted to the unexpected assault. The battle immediately devolved into an orgy of mutual annihilation; entire teams of Mobile Suits were wiped out by concentrated fire from defensive turrets even as ZAFT GINNs destroyed swarming Mobile Armors by the dozens. Casualties on both sides had been . . . severe.

David was startled from his thoughts by Mwu's voice, "Deep thoughts I see," the Mobile Armor pilot commented in a tone that Rau le Creuset had been on the receiving end of more than once. "Regrets?" that seemingly simple question was anything but.

David grimaced. Mwu was asking, not about their past, but the present. Another voice, from another time whispered through the blond Coordinator's mind. "What I want is immaterial. I swore an oath to my Nation, and I cannot abandon it. No matter who started this war, it is my duty to see it through to its conclusion or mine,"

David met the other ace's eyes with a gaze far more serene than he could have managed only moments before. "Anyone who lives has regrets, Mwu. Mine, however, are doubtless different than the ones you fear I have," the other pilot made a vague "go on" gesture even as his eyebrows furrowed in thought. "I regret that my team and I were too late to stop the tragedy of Junius Seven, I regret that this damned war has cost so many lives, I even regret that I can no longer serve with my cousin and my former comrades in ZAFT. I do not, however, regret what I did at Heliopolis or at Artemis,"

"You'll forgive me if I find that a little hard to believe, given our history," Mwu said in a quiet voice that was nonetheless harder than steel. Judging from his next statement, the Hawk of Endymion's thoughts had followed a track similar to his own. "After what happened at Bürg, I find it difficult to believe that you'd be willing to share the same oxygen as me, much less fight at my side without an ulterior motive. Like, say, the promise of stabbing me in the back once you'd fulfilled whatever mission you were on,"

David's nostrils flared when Mwu mentioned their last battle before the epic cluster fuck that was Endymion, but he was shaking his head in denial even before Mwu finished his statement. "I may have been an idealist when this war started, Mwu, but give me at least some credit for being able to learn from my experiences. Shit happens in war. What happened at the Lacus Mortis wasn't-" David cut off frowning as he tried to figure out how to put his feelings into words. "Okay, so it was your fault, but I don't blame you for it. Not anymore."

Mwu stared at the teenage Coordinator across from him with something very like disbelief for nearly half a minute before a small sad smile crossed his face. "You know, in your position I'm not sure I could forgive me. In fact I'm damn sure I couldn't."

The left side of David's mouth twisted in a grimace before he replied, "Yeah, well, it took a while. If you'll recall, the only reason either of us survived Endymion was that I was quite willing to case you clear around the moon for a chance to shoot you down,"

"True," the older ace responded, leaning backwards as he remembered that duel, "You know you almost had me with that feint you pulled just as I was coming out of the Immelman turn after you took out the number eight point defense post . . ."

David barely heard Mwu's admission. He was too busy being relieved as he saw the suspicion fading from the Hawk of Endymion's eyes.

XXXXX

Natarle had moved past foot tapping and on to outright glaring at the hatch when the door to the bridge finally opened to admit Lieutenant La Flaga only-a quick glance at her chrono confirmed-twelve minutes late. Of course she was his subordinate, and it wasn't her place to talk to him about decorum, and, she admitted, if only to herself, that she probably wouldn't even if she were an admiral. Ace pilots, especially ones like him, are in far too short a supply for anyone to casually discipline one over so minor an infraction. Even as a Book-addicted Ensign, she knew enough about real warfare not to rock the boat around a titled ace just because he was a little late. For heaven's sake, another man would have been court-martialed for striking a superior officer instead of simply being busted two grades; the Hawk of Endymion was far too important to the war effort for that. Captain Ramius's voice pulled the ensign from her thoughts.

"Well, Lieutenant la Flaga, I'm glad you could join us today," she said with a tired smile that somehow made the words more like a joke than a reprimand. One of the myriad things that Natarle had found herself wishing that she could do, that. Any time she tried 'friendly' it came out almost indistinguishable from 'condescending'.

La Flaga blinked and looked at the bridge's chrono and winced slightly at the time. "Ah, sorry about that. David and I were . . . clearing the air. I guess I got distracted," Which was interesting. Really interesting, actually, because the Lieutenant hadn't scowled when he said 'David' like he had the day before. Hell, if he spent the extra time clearing up his suspicions about David, he's probably already done more before lunch than we'll accomplish all day. Having the ZAFT ace on board was valuable all by itself, if only as a propaganda measure. Being able to trust him to be at least neutral if not helpful would be even better. And if we can trust him to help, an almost invisible smile stole over her lips, we might actually survive this disaster after all.

Lieutenant Ramius had apparently come to a similar conclusion, "Well, I suppose I don't have to break out the thumbscrews this time," she gave the Mobile Armor pilot another of those small, tired smiles. "But I believe that we were going to continue yesterday's discussion, were we not?"

Natarle felt herself nodding in agreement as the ace Mobile Armor pilot slid into the co-pilot's seat at the front of the Bridge. Even with strict rationing measures in effect they didn't have a lot of time to sort out their supply issues, and they certainly didn't have enough water left to make it all the way to the moon.

"Mr. Neumann, if you'd pull up the navigational chart?" the Captain asked with a slightly raised eyebrow. A couple of button presses later and the main screen as well as the smaller screens in front of the three officers reconfigured to show the Astrogational courses the helmsman, pulling double duty, had worked out for the shortest routes to the moon.

Tracing the shortest of the lines, Natarle asked, "Is this our best option?" before she could stop herself. Idiot, stupid- She cut her mental rant off. Implying a lack of confidence in her subordinates' abilities was a wonderful way to alienate an entire crew. "Couldn't we look for a faster route somewhere?" she asked after taking a moment to be sure of her tone. That time her question came out sounding like a question instead of an insult.

Neumann, who'd gotten up earlier than anyone else to chart out those three courses, had apparently been too tired to notice her less than tactful first question. "Afraid not," he said with a shake of his head. "If we chart a course too close to Earth, we'll have to cross the Debris Belt." The NCO turned back to his console and a fourth line stretched across the chart passing through a vivid red circle, "Despite the fact that this route would take us less time to reach lunar orbit,"

"Suppose that we navigate through it?" Captain Ramius asked, once again reminding Natarle that she was not originally a Line officer. An engineer didn't really need to know the consequences of poor choices in space navigation like an Astrogator or Command personnel did.

"Through the Debris Belt?" Neumann asked as though he couldn't quite credit his ears. "There's no way that's possible." he stated quite firmly. "If we attempt to pass through it at this speed, we'll end up becoming part of it!"

"The junk heap that humanity made ever since they began exploring Space. It's true, we don't want to be a part of that." La Flaga said. He appeared to be about to continue when his mouth closed so fast Natarle was surprised his teeth didn't chip when they came together. "Wait a minute, yes, the Debris Belt,"

Everyone on the Bridge shared the same look of confusion in that moment before the Captain tilted her head to the right and a confused, "Huh?" passed her lips.

Lieutenant La Flaga's face spread into a genuine grin. "Oh, nothing Ma'am, just considering a way to make the impossible possible."

XXXXX

Kira throttled a sigh that threatened to turn into a full-blown yawn and went back to scrubbing at one of the Strike's myriad moving parts. How anything can attract this much crud in vacuum is beyond me. He'd only been deployed for a few minutes the day before, but they hadn't dared take anything apart to clean it until they were sure that they'd gotten away from ZAFT free and clear. And by then, the mess had set into something with the consistency of dried concrete that smelled like lard that had been left in the sun for about a week. Oh, and just to make it worse, we have no water so we can't use the pressure washers to loosen this crap up. That was a slight exaggeration, but only a slight one. They still had enough water for four or five days, but only if they conserved it for vital functions. Like drinking. Kira stopped a sigh before it could start, wondering once again why ZAFT couldn't have just left Heliopolis alone. And this train of thought is not a productive one. Kira attacked the caked on . . . stuff with new energy.

After a few more minutes of cleaning, Kira finally had . . . whatever it was that he was working on reasonably clean. Unfortunately, he knew Murdoch would demand that all the Strike's parts be absolutely spotless, irregardless of the fact that they had no mechanical assistance. With another sigh, the purple-eyed Coordinator went back to scrubbing, muttering imprecations about the Mobile Suit he was working on, Murdoch, and Murdoch's likely parentage all the while.

A clanging sound from just a few feet away caused him to jump and shoot a guilty glance at the cause of the noise and very nearly lose him perch on the Strike in the process. Luckily it was Miriallia instead of the Mad Mechanic. Unfortunately, Mir looked like she'd just finished biting into a particularly sour lemon. "I blame you for this, you know," She said conversationally as she went to work on another one of the exposed and gunk covered bits of machinery.

"Me?" Kira shoots back, confused. "How is this my fault?"

Mir just turns another glare on him, "I didn't say it was your fault, I said I blame you for it. There's a difference,"

Kira just stared at her for a moment before shaking his head tiredly, I will never, ever understand how a girl's mind works. Kira really didn't know how to respond to his fellow pilot's statement, so he didn't bother to try. Instead, he attacked the Ion Exchange . . . thing that he was working on with new energy. For nearly a half hour the pair worked in companionable silence on the inactive mobile suit as most of the ship's mechanics tinkered with the captured GINN and the Hyperion.

Then the walking tornado had appeared and swept them up. David had come bounding into the hanger at what was probably an unsafe velocity and immediately ricocheted over to Murdoch where the two engaged in a soft-spoken conversation for a couple minutes before the mechanic gave up and sent two of his orange-clothed subordinates over toward the Strike with David.

The blond coordinator alit between the two of them, a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes that immediately put both of the other teens at DefCon Two. When he saw the wariness seep into their expressions, David's smile turned into a full-blown grin. "Well," he said, "I have good news and bad news. The good news, is that you're done working on the Strike for the time being," Even wary as they were neither he or Miriallia could quite suppress their sighs of relief. That, however, only seemed to make their fellow pilot more amused. "The bad news," he continued, "is that both of you get to come with me,"

Ah, Kira grimaced as David's gin turned decidedly evil, so that's the sound of the other shoe dropping.

XXXXX

David led the trio through half a dozen of the Archangel's less-used service ways before stopping at one particular hatch and keying in the rather involved combination that Captain Ramius had given him when he'd asked for some help with his 'Mobile Suit Piloting 101' class. Officially, the room he was leading his two students into didn't exist. Officially it was a storeroom for spare parts for the Assault Carrier's water reclamation systems. It said so right in the ship's blueprints.

Unofficially, it contained a simulator for each of the original five prototypes. Complete with gyroscopes and hydraulic actuators to mimic the experience of flying a Mobile Suit as accurately as possible, the five flight simulators would have taken up most of a warehouse if they'd been built with twentieth century technology. Instead they were all packed into a cabin that was little larger than the ship's mess hall. It had taken more than four hours of tinkering with the programming of the simulators originally meant for the Buster and Duel before he'd been able to convince the computers to substitute the Devastator and Stormcrow's data for that of the captured machines. They still weren't truly ready yet, but they were better than nothing. Those, however would wait for a bit.

David directed Kira and Mir toward a whiteboard and the half-dozen chairs bolted to the deck in front of it before grabbing a black marker and starting in.

"Alright, this is Mobile Suit Piloting and Tactics 101; I'm Professor Amalfi and I will be your instructor for the duration of the course," David said in a saccharine-sweet voice absolutely coated in semi-sarcasm that made Kira grin and Mir giggle. He'd only barely stopped himself from adding his own instructor's "or until you get killed, whichever comes first" to the end of his previous sentence. David forced a smile before sighing theatrically, "I don't get no respect," he said mournfully before taking a deep breath and starting in with his ad hoc lesson plan. "Alright, the way I had piloting explained to me was that, as a freshly minted recruit, you start out with two bags. The first one is full of luck, the other is empty of experience, and the objective is to fill the second before emptying the first." Neither of his students appeared to be at all amused now and David was almost sorry to take the amusement out of the room like he had. What I'm going to teach them might end up saving their lives. I can live with them not enjoying it. "Now," he continued, "we've all used up about a year's worth of luck in the last week, so I figured that it's about time to start helping you with the experience part. The purpose of this class," he said, continuing the metaphor he'd constructed for their little apprenticeship program, "is to expose you to the collected martial wisdom of humanity. Now, I don't know all of it by any means; however, for my sins, I've been elected to see to it that you make it back to the ship after each sortie healthy, hale, and without extensive damage to your machines.

"To that end," he continued, "I'll be teaching you a bit of military history along with tactics and what I can remember of strategy for about six hours every day," Mir groaned and muttered something that sounded like, 'Great it's High School all over again.' David just smiled and kept talking, "So, you two had best get used to those seats,"

XXXXX

Wow. That chapter took forever to write. Sorry about the wait and the extreme lack of combat, but I swear there'll be more action in the near future. Thanks for reading and for your patience.


End file.
